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RECOLLECTIONS 

OF THE CIVIL WAR 

With the Leaders at Washington 
and in the Field in the Sixties 



BY 

CHARLES A. DANA 

ASSISTANT SECRETART OF WAR FROM 1S63 TO 1865 



WITH PORTRAIT 




NEW YORK 

Z). Applet on and Company 
1902 



31 q 



Copyright, 1898, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 






-177^3 




I 






RECOLLECTIONS OF THE CIVIL WAR 



THE WORKS OF CHARLES A. DANA. 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

By Charles A. Dana. With Portrait. Large i2mo. 
Cloth, gilt top, uncut, $2.00. 

The late Charles A. Dana's " Recollections of the Civil War" forms 
one of the most remarkable volumes of historical, political, and personal 
reminiscences which have been given to the public. Mr. Dana was not 
only practically a member of the Cabinet and in the confidence of the 
leaders of Washington, but he was also the chosen representative of the 
War Department with General Grant and other military commanders, 
and he was present at many of the councils which preceded movements 
of the greatest importance. 

Appletons' American Cyclopaedia. 

A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. Edited by 
Charles A. Dana and George Ripley. Complete in 
16 volumes of over 800 pages each. Fully illustrated with 
several thousand Wood Engravings and numerous Colored 
Lithographic Maps. Sold only by subscription. 

The Household Book of Poetry. 

Edited by Charles A. Dana. Illustrated with Steel En- 
gravings. New and enlarged edition. Royal Svo. Cloth, 
§5.00; morocco, antique, $10.00; tree calf, $12.00. 

Fifty Perfect Poems. 

Selected and edited by Charles A. Dana and Rossiter 
Johnson. Royal Svo. Illustrated. White silk, $10.00; 
morocco, $15.00. 

The Household Book of Songs. 

Collected and arranged by Charles A. Dana and F. A. 
Bowman. Half roan, cloth sides, $2.50. 

The Art of Newspaper Making. 

Three Lectures. i6mo. Cloth, $1.00. 

Eastern Journeys. 

Some Notes of Travel in Russia, in the Caucasus, and to 
Jerusalem. i6mo. Cloth, $1.00. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



PREFACE. 



Mr. Dana wrote these Recollections of the civil 
war according to a purpose which he had entertained 
for several years. They were completed only a few 
months before his death on October 17, 1897. A 
large part of the narrative has been published serially 
in McClure's Magazine. In the chapter about Abra- 
ham Lincoln and the Lincoln Cabinet Mr. Dana has 
drawn from a lecture which he delivered in 1896 be- 
fore the New Haven Colony Historical Society. The 
incident of the self-wounded spy, in the chapter relat- 
ing to the secret service of the war, was first printed 
in the North American Review for August, 1891. A 
few of the anecdotes about Mr. Lincoln which appear 
in this book were told by Mr. Dana originally in a 
brief contribution to a volume entitled Reminiscences 
of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of his 
Time, edited by the late Allen Thorndike Rice, and 
published in 1886. 

Although Mr. Dana was in one sense the least 
reminiscent of men, living actively in the present, and 

v 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

always more interested in to-morrow than in yester- 
day, and although it was his characteristic habit to 
toss into the wastebasket documents for history which 
many persons would have treasured, he found in the 
preparation of the following chapters abundant mate- 
rial wherewith to stimulate and confirm his own mem- 
ory, in the form of his official and unofficial reports 
written at the front for the information of Mr. Stan- 
ton and Mr. Lincoln, and private letters to members 
of his family and intimate friends. 

Charles Anderson Dana was forty-four years old 
when his appointment as Assistant Secretary of War 
put him behind the scenes of the great drama then en- 
acting, and brought him into personal relations with 
the conspicuous civilians and soldiers of the war period. 
Born in New Hampshire on August 8, 1819, he had 
passed by way of western New York, Harvard College, 
and Brook Farm into the profession which he loved 
and in which he labored almost to the last day of his 
life. When Secretary Stanton called him to Washing- 
ton he had been engaged for nearly fifteen years in the 
management of the New York Tribune, the journal 
most powerful at that time in solidifying Northern 
sentiment for the crisis that was to come. When the 
war was over and the Union preserved, he returned 
at once to journalism. His career subsequently as the 
editor of The Sun for thirty years is familiar to most 
Americans. 

vi 



Preface. 

It is proper to note the circumstance that the 
three years covered by Mr. Dana's Recollections as 
here recorded constitute the only term during which 
he held any public office, and the only break in more 
than half a century of continuous experience in the 
making of newspapers. His connection with the Gov- 
ernment during those momentous years is an episode 
in the story of a life that throbbed from boyhood to 
age with intellectual energy, and was crowded with 
practical achievement. 
New York, October 17, i8g8. 



Vll 



CONTENTS 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. — From the Tribune to the War Department . i 

First meeting with Mr. Lincoln — Early correspondence 
with Mr. Stanton — A command obtained for General Fre- 
mont — The new energy in the military operations — Mr. 
Stanton disclaims the credit — The War Secretary's opin- 
ion of McClellan — Mr. Dana called into Government serv- 
ice — The Cairo investigation and its results — First acquaint- 
ance with General Grant. 

II. — At the front with Grant's army \6 

War speculation in cotton — In business partnership 
with Roscoe Conkling — Appointed special commissioner 
to Grant's army — The story of a cipher code — From Mem- 
phis to Milliken's Bend — The various plans for taking 
Vicksburg — At Grant's headquarters — The beginning of 
trouble with McClernand. 

III. — Before and around Vicksburg ... 35 

The hard job of reopening the Mississippi — Admiral 
Porter runs the Confederate batteries — Headquarters moved 
to Smith's plantation — Delay and confusion in McCler- 
nand's command — The unsuccessful attack on Grand Gulf 
— The move to the east shore — Mr. Dana manages with 
Grant's help to secure a good horse. 

IV. — In camp and battle with Grant and his gen- 
erals 47 

Marching into the enemy's country — A night in a 
church with a Bible for pillow — Our communications are 
cut — Entering the capital of Mississippi — The War De- 
partment gives Grant full authority — Battle of Champion's 
Hill — General Logan's peculiarity — Battlefield incidents — 
Vicksburg invested and the siege begun — Personal traits 
of Sherman, McPherson, and McClernand. 

ix 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

CHAP. PACK 

V. — Some contemporary portraits 6i 

Grant before his great fame — His friend and mentor, 
General Rawlins — James Harrison Wilson — Two semi-offi- 
cial letters to Stanton — Character sketches for the infor- 
mation of the President and Secretary — Mr. Dana's early 
judgment of soldiers who afterward won distinction. 

VI. — The siege of Vicksburg 78 

Life behind Vicksburg — Grant's efforts to procure rein- 
forcements — The fruitless appeal to General Banks — Mr. 
Stanton responds to Mr. Dana's representations — A steam- 
boat trip with Grant — Watching Joe Johnston — Visits to 
Sherman and Admiral Porter — The negro troops win glory 
— Progress and incidents of the siege — Vicksburg wakes 
up — McClernand's removal. 

VII.— Pemberton's surrender 91 

The artillery assault of June 20th — McPherson springs 
a mine — Grant decides to storm the city — Pemberton asks 
for an interview and terms — The "unconditional surren- 
der" note — At the meeting of Grant and Pemberton be- 
tween the lines — The ride into Vicksburg and the Fourth 
of July celebration there. 

VIII.— With the Army of the Cumberland . . .103 

Appointment as Assistant Secretary of War — Again to 
the far front — An interesting meeting with Andrew John- 
son — Rosecrans's complaints — His view of the situation at 
Chattanooga — At General Thomas's headquarters — The 
first day of Chickamauga — The battlefield telegraph serv- 
ice — A night council of war at Widow Glenn's — Personal 
experiences of the disastrous second day's battle — The 
" Rock of Chickamauga." 

IX. — The removal of Rosecrans 120 

Preparing to defend Chattanooga — Effect on the army 
of the day of disaster and glory — Mr. Dana suggests Grant 
or Thomas as Rosecrans's successor — Portrait of Thomas 
— The dignity and loyalty of his character illustrated — 
The army reorganized — It is threatened with starvation — 
An estimate of Rosecrans — He is relieved of the command 
of the Army of the Cumberland. 

X 



Contents. 

CHAP. PAGE 

X. — Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge . . .132 

Thomas succeeds Rosecrans in the Army of the Cum- 
berland — Grant supreme at Chattanooga — A visit to the 
army at Knoxville — A Tennessee Unionist's family — Im- 
pressions of Burnside — Grant against Bragg at Chatta- 
nooga — The most spectacular fighting of the war — Watch- 
ing the first day's battle — With Sherman the second day — 
The moonlight fight on Lookout Mountain — Sheridan's 
whisky flask — The third day's victory and the glorious 
spectacle it afforded — The relief of General Burnside. 

XI. — The War Department in war times . . .156 

Grant's plans blocked by Halleck — Mr. Dana on duty at 
Washington — Edwin McMasters Stanton — His deep reli- 
gious feeling — His swift intelligence and almost super- 
human energy — The Assistant Secretary's functions — Con- 
tract supplies and contract frauds — Lincoln's intercession 
for dishonest contractors with political influence — A char- 
acteristic letter from Sherman. 

XII.— Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet . . .168 

Daily intercourse with Lincoln — The great civil leaders 
of the period — Seward and Chase — Gideon Welles — Fric- 
tion between Stanton and Blair — Personal traits of the 
President — Lincoln's surpassing ability as a politician — 
His true greatness of character and intellect — His genius 
for military judgment — Stanton's comment on the Gettys- 
burg speech — The kindness of Abraham Lincoln's heart. 

XIII. — The Army of the Potomac in '64. . . . 186 

Mr. Lincoln sends Mr. Dana again to the front — General 
Halleck's character — First visit to the Army of the Poto- 
mac — General Meade's good qualities and bad — Winfield 
Scott Hancock — Early acquaintance with Sedgwick — His 
death — Humphreys's accomplishments as a soldier and as 
a swearer — Grant's plan of campaign against Lee — Inci- 
dents at Spottsylvania — The " Bloody Angle." 

XIV. — The great game between Grant and Lee. . 200 

Maneuvering and fighting in the rain, mud. and thick- 
ets — Virginian conditions of warfare — Within eight miles 
of Richmond — The battle of Cold Harbor — The tremendous 
losses of the campaign — The charge of butchery against 

xi 



Recollections of the Civil fVar. 

CHAP. PAGH 

Grant considered in the light of statistics — What it cost in 
life and blood to take Richmond. 

XV. — The march on Petersburg 212 

In camp at Cold Harbor — Grant's opinion of Lee — 
Trouble with newspaper correspondents — Moving south of 
the James River — The great pontoon bridge — The fighting 
of the colored troops — Failure to take Petersburg at first 
attack — Lee loses Grant and Beauregard finds him — Beau- 
regard's service to the Confederacy. 

XVI. — Early's raid and the Washington panic . 224 

President Lincoln visits the lines at Petersburg — 
Trouble with General Meade — Jubal Early menaces the 
Federal capital — The excitement in Washington and Balti- 
more — Clerks and veteran reserves called out to defend 
Washington — Grant sends troops from the front — Plenty 
of generals, but no head — Early ends the panic by with- 
drawing — A fine letter from Grant about Hunter. 

XVII. — The secret service of the war. . . . 235 

Mr. Stanton's agents and spies — Regular subterranean 
traffic between Washington and Richmond — A man who 
spied for both sides — The arrest of the Baltimore merchants 
— Stanton's remarkable speech on the meaning of disloy- 
alty — Intercepting Jefferson Davis's letters to Canada — 
Detecting the plot to burn New York, and the plan to 
invade Vermont — Story of the cleverest and pluckiest of 
spies and his remarkable adventures. 

XVIII. — A visit to Sheridan in the valley . . .248 
Mr. Dana carries to Sheridan his major-general's com- 
mission — A ride through the Army of the Shenandoah — 
The affection of Sheridan's soldiers for the general — How 
he explained it — His ideas about personal courage in battle 
— The War Department and the railroads — How the depart- 
ment worked for Lincoln's re-election — Election night of 
November, 1864 — Lincoln reads aloud passages from Petro- 
leum V. Nasby while the returns come in. 

XIX.— "On to Richmond" at last! . . . .263 

The fall of the Confederacy — In Richmond just after 
the evacuation — A search for Confederate archives — Lin- 

xii 



Contents. 

CHAP. PAGB 

coin's propositions to the Virginians — A meeting with the 
Confederate Assistant Secretary of War — Andrew Johnson 
turns up at Richmond — His views as to the necessity of 
punishing rebels — The first Sunday services at the Confed- 
erate capital under the old flag — News of Lee's surrender 
reaches Richmond — Back to Washington with Grant. 

XX. — The closing scenes at Washington . . . 273 

Last interview with Mr. Lincoln — Why Jacob Thomp- 
son escaped — At the deathbed of the murdered President 
—Searching for the assassins — The letters which Mr. Lin- 
coln had docketed "Assassination" — At the conspiracy 
trial — The Confederate secret cipher — Jefferson Davis's 
capture and imprisonment — A visit to the Confederate 
President at Fortress Monroe — The grand review of the 
Union armies — The meeting between Stanton and Sher- 
man — End of Mr. Dana's connection with the War Depart- 
ment. 

Index 293 



xm 



RECOLLECTIONS OF THE 
CIVIL WAR. 



CHAPTER I, 

FROM THE TRIBUNE TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 

First meeting with Mr. Lincoln — Early correspondence with Mr. Stan- 
ton — A command obtained for General Fremont — The new energy 
in the military operations — Mr. Stanton disclaims the credit — 
The War Secretary's opinion of McClellan — Mr. Dana called into 
Government service — The Cairo investigation and its results — First 
acquaintance with General Grant. 

I had been associated with Horace Greeley on the 
New York Tribune for about fifteen years when, one 
morning early in April, 1862, Mr. Sinclair, the adver- 
tising manager of the paper, came to me, saying that 
Mr. Greeley would be glad to have me resign. I asked 
one of my associates to find from Mr. Greeley if that 
was really his wish. In a few hours he came to me say- 
ing that I had better go. I stayed the day out in order 
to make up the paper and give them an opportunity 
to find a successor, but I never went into the office 
after that. I think I then owned a fifth of the paper — 
twenty shares; this stock my colleagues bought. 

Mr. Greeley never gave a reason for dismissing me, 
nor did I ever ask for one. I know, though, that the 
2 1 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

real explanation was that while he was for peace I was 
for war, and that as long as I stayed on the Tribune 
there was a spirit there which was not his spirit — that 
he did not like. 

My retirement from the Tribune was talked of in the 
newspapers for a day or two, and brought me a letter 
from the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, saying 
he would like to employ me in the War Department. 
I had already met Mr. Lincoln, and had carried on a 
brief correspondence with Mr. Stanton. My meeting 
with Mr. Lincoln was shortly after his inauguration. 
He had appointed Mr. Seward to be his Secretary of 
State, and some of the Republican leaders of New York 
who had been instrumental in preventing Mr. Seward's 
nomination to the presidency, and in securing that of 
Mr. Lincoln, had begun to fear that they would be 
left out in the cold in the distribution of the offices. 
General James S. Wadsworth, George Opdyke, Lucius 
Robinson, T. B. Carroll, and Henry B. Stanton were 
among the number of these gentlemen. Their appre- 
hensions were somewhat mitigated by the fact that Mr. 
Chase, to whom we were all friendly, was Secretary of 
the Treasury. But, notwithstanding, they were afraid 
that the superior tact and pertinacity of Mr. Seward 
and of Mr. Thurlow Weed, Seward's close friend and 
political manager, would get the upper hand, and that 
the power of the Federal administration would be put 
into the control of the rival faction; accordingly, sev- 
eral of them determined to go to Washington, and I was 
asked to go with them. 

I believe the appointment for our interview with 

2 



From the Tribune to the War Department. 

the President was made through Mr. Chase; but at any 
rate we all went up to the White House together, ex- 
cept Mr. Henry B. Stanton, who stayed away because 
he was himself an applicant for office. 

Mr. Lincoln received us in the large room upstairs 
in the east wing of the White House, where he had his 
working office. The President stood up while General 
Wadsworth, who was our principal spokesman, and 
Mr. Opdyke stated what was desired. After the inter*- 
view had begun, a big Indianian, who was a messenger 
in attendance in the White House, came into the room 
and said to the President: 

" She wants you." 

" Yes, yes," said Mr. Lincoln, without stirring. 

Soon afterward the messenger returned again, ex- 
claiming, " I say, she wants you! " 

The President was evidently annoyed, but instead of 
going out after the messenger he remarked to us: 

" One side shall not gobble up everything. Make 
out a list of places and men you want, and I will en- 
deavor to apply the rule of give and take." 

General Wadsworth answered: 

" Our party will not be able to remain in Washing- 
ton, but we will leave such a list with Mr. Carroll, and 
whatever he agrees to will be agreeable to us." 

Mr. Lincoln continued: " Let Mr. Carroll come in 
to-morrow, and we will see what can be done." 

This is the substance of the interview, and what 
most impressed me was the evident fairness of the Presi- 
dent. We all felt that he meant to do what was right 
and square in the matter. While he was not the man 

3 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

to promote factious quarrels and difficulties within his 
party, he did not intend to leave in the lurch the friends 
through whose exertions his nomination and election 
had finally been brought about. At the same time he 
understood perfectly that we of New York and our 
associates in the Republican body had not gone to 
Chicago for the purpose of nominating him, or of 
nominating any one in particular, but only to beat Mr. 
Seward, and thereupon to do the best that could be 
done as regards the selection of the candidate. 

My acquaintance with Mr. Stanton had come about 
through an editorial which I had written for the Trib- 
une on his entrance to the War Department. I had 
sent it to him with a letter calling his attention to cer- 
tain facts with which it seemed to me the War Depart- 
ment ought to deal. In reply I received the following 
letter: 

Washington, January 24, 1862. 

My dear Sir: Yours of the 22d only reached me 
this evening. The facts you mention were new to me, 
but there is too much reason to fear they are true. But 
that matter will, I think, be corrected very speedily. 

You can not tell how much obligation I feel myself 
under for your kindness. Every man who wishes the 
country to pass through this trying hour should stand 
on watch, and aid me. Bad passions and little passions 
and mean passions gather around and hem in the great 
movements that should deliver this nation. 

Two days ago I wrote you a long letter — a three 
pager — expressing my thanks for your admirable article 
of the 2 1 st, stating my position and purposes; and in 
that letter I mentioned some of the circumstances of 
my unexpected appointment. But, interrupted before 
it was completed, I will not inflict, or afflict, you with it. 

I know the task that is before us — I say us, because 

4 



From the Tribune to the IVar "Department. 

the Tribune has its mission as plainly as I have mine, 
and they tend to the same end. But I am not in the 
smallest degree dismayed or disheartened. By God's 
blessing we shall prevail. I feel a deep, earnest feeling 
growing up around me. We have no jokes or triviali- 
ties, but all with whom I act show that they are now in 
dead earnest. 

I know you will rejoice to know this. 

As soon as I can get the machinery of the office 
working, the rats cleared out, and the rat holes stopped 
we shall move. This army has got to fight or run away; 
and while men are striving nobly in the West, the 
champagne and oysters on the Potomac must be 
stopped. But patience for a short while only is all I ask, 
if you and others like you will rally around me. 

Yours truly, 

Edwin M. Stanton. 

C. A. Dana, Esq. 

A few days after this I wrote Mr. Stanton a second 
letter, in which I asked him to give General Fremont a 
chance. At the breaking out of the war Fremont had 
been made a major general in the regular army and 
the command of the Western Department had been 
given to him. His campaign in Missouri in the summer 
of 1861 gave great dissatisfaction, and in November, 
1 86 1, he was relieved, after an investigation by the Sec- 
retary of War. Since that time he had been without a 
command. I believed, as did many others, that political 
intrigue was keeping Fremont back. I was anxious 
that he should have fair play, in order that the great 
mass of people who had supported him for the presi- 
dency in 1856, and who still were his warm friends, 
might not be dissatisfied. To my letter Mr. Stanton 
replied : 

5 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

Washington, February i, 1862. 

Dear Sir: If General Fremont has any fight in him, 
he shall (so far as I am concerned) have a chance to 
show it, and I have told him so. The times require the 
help of every man according to his gifts, and, having 
neither partialities nor grudges to indulge, it will be 
my aim to practice on the maxim, " the tools to him 
that can handle them." * 

There will be serious trouble between Hunter and 
Lane. What Lane's expedition has in view, how it 
came to be set on foot, and what is expected to be ac- 
complished by it, I do not know and have tried in 
vain to find out. It seems to be a haphazard affair that 
no one will admit himself to be responsible for. But 
believing that Lane has pluck, and is an earnest man, he 
shall have fair play. If you know anything about him 
or his expedition pray tell it to me. 

To bring the War Department up to the standard 
of the times, and work an army of five hundred thou- 
sand with machinery adapted to a peace establishment 
of twelve thousand, is no easy task. This was Mr. 
Cameron's great trouble, and the cause of much of 
the complaints against him. All I ask is reasonable 
time and patience. The pressure of members of Con- 
gress for clerk and army appointments, notwithstand- 
ing the most stringent rules, and the persistent strain 
against all measures essential to obtain time for thought, 
combination, and conference, is discouraging in the ex- 
treme — it often tempts me to quit the helm in despair. 
The only consolation is the confidence and support of 
good and patriotic men; to their aid I look for strength. 
Yours truly, Edwin M. Stanton. 

C. A. Dana, Esq., Tribune Office. 

Very soon after Mr. Stanton went into office mili- 
tary affairs were energized, and a forward movement 

* A month later General Fremont was assigned to the command of 
the " Mountain Department," composed of parts of Virginia, Ken- 
tucky, and Tennessee. 

6 



From the Tribune to the War Department. 

of the armies was apparent. It was followed by several 
victories, notably those of Fort Henry and Fort Donel- 
son. On several occasions the Tribune credited to the 
head of the War Department this new spirit which 
seemed to inspire officers and men. Mr. Stanton, fear- 
ful of the effect of this praise, sent to the paper the fol- 
lowing dispatch: 

To the Editor of the New York Tribune : 

Sir: I can not suffer undue merit to be ascribed to 
my official action. The glory of our recent victories be- 
longs to the gallant officers and soldiers that fought the 
battles. No share of it belongs to me. 

Much has recently been said of military combina- 
tions and organizing victory. I hear such phrases with 
apprehension. They commenced in infidel France with 
the Italian campaign, and resulted in Waterloo. Who 
can organize victory? Who can combine the elements 
of success on the battlefield? We owe our recent vic- 
tories to the spirit of the Lord that moved our soldiers 
to rush into battle and filled the heart of our enemies 
with dismay. The inspiration that conquered in battle 
was in the hearts of the soldiers and from on high; and 
wherever there is the same inspiration there will be 
the same results. Patriotic spirit, with resolute courage 
in officers and men, is a military combination that never 
failed. 

We may well rejoice at the recent victories, for they 
teach us that battles are to be won now and by us in 
the same and only manner that they were ever won by 
any people, or in any age, since the days of Joshua, by 
boldly pursuing and striking the foe. What, under the 
blessing of Providence, I conceive to be the true organi- 
zation of victory and military combination to end this 
war, was declared in a few words by General Grant's 
message to General Buckner: " / propose to move imme- 
diately on your works." 

Yours truly, Edwin M. Stanton. 

7 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

On receiving this I at once wired to our representa- 
tive in Washington to know if Mr. Stanton meant to 
" repudiate " the Tribune. I received my answer from 

Mr. Stanton himself: 

Washington, February ig, 1862. 
Dear Sir: It occurred to me that your kind notice 
of myself might be perverted into a disparagement of 
the Western officers and soldiers to whom the merit of 
the recent victories justly belongs, and that it might 
create an antagonism between them and the head of the 
War Department. To avoid that misconstruction was 
the object of my dispatch — leaving the matter to be 
determined as to publication to the better judgment of 
the Tribune, my own mind not being clear on the point 
of its expediency. Mr. Hill called to see me this even- 
ing, and from the tenor of your dispatch it seemed to 
me that your judgment did not approve the publication, 
or you would not speak of me as " repudiating " any- 
thing the Tribune says. On reflection / am convinced 
the communication should not be published, as it might 
imply an antagonism between myself and the Tribune. 
On this, as on any future occasion, I defer to your 
judgment. We have one heart and mind in this great 
cause, and upon many essential points you have a wider 
range of observation and clearer sight than myself; I 
am therefore willing to be guided by your wisdom. 
Yours truly, Edwin M. Stanton. 

C A. Dana, Esq. 

On receiving this letter we of course published his 
telegram at once. 

When Mr. Stanton went into the War Department 
there was great dissatisfaction in the Tribune office with 
McClellan. He had been placed in command of the 
Army of the Potomac in the preceding August, and 
since November 1st had been in command of all the 
armies of the United States; but while he had proved 

8 



From the tribune to the War Department. 

victorious possession! It would be a picture worthy of 
Punch. 

Thus, when the newspapers announced my unex- 
pected retirement from the Tribune, I was not unknown 
to either the President or the Secretary of War. 

To Mr. Stanton's letter asking me to go into the 
service of the War Department, I replied that I would 
attempt anything he wanted me to do, and in May he 
wrote me that I was to be appointed on a commission 
to audit unsettled claims against the quartermaster's 
department at Cairo, 111. I was directed to be in Cairo 
on June 17th. My formal appointment, which I did 
not receive until after I reached Cairo, read thus: 

War Department, 
Washington City, D. C, June 16, 1862. 

Sir: By direction of the President, a commission 

been appointed, consisting of Messrs. George S. 

utwell, Stephen T. Logan, and yourself, to examine 

1 report upon all unsettled claims against the War 

apartment, at Cairo, 111., that may have originated 

ior to the first day of April, 1862. 

Messrs. Boutwell and Logan have been requested to 
,et with you at Cairo on the eighteenth day of June 
stant, in order that the commission may be organ- 
zed on that day and enter immediately upon the dis- 
charge of its duties. 

You will be allowed a compensation of eight dollars 
per day and mileage. 

Mr. Thomas Means, who has been appointed so- 
licitor for the Government, has been directed to meet 
you at Cairo on the eighteenth instant, and will act, 
under the direction of the commission, in the investi- 
gation of such claims as may be presented. 

Edwin M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War. 

Hon. Charles A. Dana, of New York, 
Cairo, 111. 

II 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

On reaching Cairo on the appointed day, I found 
my associates, Judge Logan, of Springfield, 111., one 
of Mr. Lincoln's friends, and Mr. Boutwell, of Massa- 
chusetts, afterward Governor of his State, Secretary of 
the Treasury, and a United States senator. We organ- 
ized on the 1 8th, as directed. Two days after we met' 
Judge Logan was compelled by illness to resign from 
the commission, and Shelby M. Cullom, now United 
States senator from Illinois, was appointed in his place. 

The main Union armies had by this time advanced 
far to the front, but Cairo was still an important mili- 
tary depot, almost an outpost, in command of General 
William K. Strong, whom I had known well in New 
York as a politician. There was a large number of 
troops stationed in the town, and from there the armies 
on the Mississippi River, in Missouri, and in Kentucky, 
got all their supplies and munitions of war. The quar- 
termaster's department at Cairo had been organized 
hastily, and the demands upon it had increased rapidly. 
Much of the business had been done by green volunteer 
officers who did not understand the technical duties of 
making out military requisitions and returns. The re- 
sult was that the accounts were in great confusion, and 
hysterical newspapers were charging the department 
with fraud and corruption. The War Department de- 
cided to make a full investigation of all disbursements 
at Cairo from the beginning. Little actual cash had 
thus far been paid out upon contracts, and it was not 
too late to correct overcharges and straighten out the 
system. The matter could not be settled by any ordi- 
nary means, and the commission went there as a kind 

12 



From the Tribune to the IVar Department. 

of supreme authority, accepting or rejecting claims and 
paying them as we thought fit after examining the evi- 
dence. 

Sixteen hundred and ninety-six claims, amounting 
.to $599,219.36, were examined by us. Of those ap- 
proved and certified for payment the amount was $451,- 
105.80. Of the claims rejected, a considerable portion 
were for losses suffered in the active operations of the 
army, either through departure from discipline on the 
part of soldiers, or from requisitions made by officers 
who failed to give receipts and certificates to the per- 
sons concerned, who were thus unable to support their 
claims by sufficient evidence. Many claims of this de- 
scription were also presented by men whose loyalty 
to the Government was impeached by credible wit- 
nesses. In rejecting these the commission set forth the 
disloyalty of the claimants, in the certificates written 
on the face of their accounts. Other accounts, whose 
rightfulness was established, were rejected on proof of 
disloyalty. The commission regarded complicity in the 
rebellion as barring all claims against the United States. 

A question of some interest was raised by the claim 
of the trustees of the Cairo city property to be paid for 
the use by the Government wharf boats of the paved 
portion of the levee which protected the town against 
the Ohio River. We were unable to see the matter in 
the light presented by the trustees. Our judgment was 
that the Government ought not to pay for the use of 
necessary landing places on these rivers or elsewhere 
during the exigencies of the war, and we so certified 
upon the face of the claims. A similar principle guided 

13 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

our decision upon several claims for the rent of vacant 
lots in Cairo, which had been used by the military au- 
thorities for the erection of temporary barracks or 
stables. We determined that for these no rent ought, 
under the circumstances, to be allowed, but we sug- 
gested that in justice to the owners this temporary oc- 
cupation should be terminated as soon as possible by 
the sale and removal of the buildings. 

A very small percentage of the claims were rejected 
because of fraud. In almost every case it was possible 
to suppose that the apparent fraud was accident. My ob- 
servation throughout the war was the same. I do not 
believe that so much business could be transacted with a 
closer adherence to the line of honesty. That there were 
frauds is a matter of course, because men, and even 
some women, are wicked, but frauds were the exception. 

Our commission finished its labors at Cairo on July 
31, 1862, and I went at once to Washington with the 
report, placing it in the hands of Mr. Stanton on August 
5th. It was never printed, and the manuscript is still 
in the files of the War Department. 

There was a great deal of curiosity among officers in 
Washington about the result of our investigation, and 
all the time that I was in the city I was being ques- 
tioned on the subject. It was natural enough that they 
should have felt interested in our report. The charges 
of fraud and corruption against officers and contractors 
had become so reckless and general that the mere sight 
of a man in conference with a high official led to the 
suspicion and often the charge that he was conspiring 
to rob the Government. That in this case, where the 

14 



From the tribune to the War Department. 

charges seemed so well based, so small a percentage of 
corruption had been proved was a source of solid satis- 
faction to every one in the War Department. 

All the leisure that I had while in Cairo I spent in 
horseback riding up and down the river banks and in 
visiting the adjacent military posts. My longest and 
most interesting trip was on the Fourth of July, when I 
went down the Mississippi to attend a big celebration 
at Memphis. I remember it particularly because it was 
there that I first met General Grant. The officers sta- 
tioned in the city gave a dinner that day, to which I was 
invited. At the table I was seated between Grant and 
Major John A. Rawlins, of his staff. I remember dis- 
tinctly the pleasant impression Grant made — that of a 
man of simple manners, straightforward, cordial, and 
unpretending. He had already fought the successful 
battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, and, when I met 
him, was a major general in command of the district of 
West Tennessee, Department of the Missouri, under 
Halleck, with headquarters at Memphis. Although 
one would not have suspected it from his manners, he 
was really under a cloud at the time because of his 
operations at Shiloh. Those who did not like Grant 
had accused him of having been taken by surprise there, 
and had declared that he would have been beaten if 
Buell had not come up. I often talked later with 
Grant's staff officers about Shiloh, and they always 
affirmed that he would have been successful if Buell had 
not come to his relief. I believe Grant himself thought 
so, although he never said so directly in any one of the 
many talks I had with him about the battle. 

15 



CHAPTER II. 

AT THE FRONT WITH GRANT'S ARMY. 

War speculation in cotton — In business partnership with Roscoe 
Conkling — Appointed special commissioner to Grant's army — The 
story of a cipher code — From Memphis to Milliken's Bend — The 
various plans for taking Vicksburg — At Grant's headquarters — 
The beginning of trouble with McClernand. 

As Mr. Stanton had no immediate need of my serv- 
ices, I returned in August to New York, where I was 
occupied with various private affairs until the middle 
of November, when I received a telegram from Assist- 
ant-Secretary-of-War P. H. Watson, asking me to go 
immediately to Washington to enter upon another in- 
vestigation. I went, and was received by Mr. Stanton, 
who offered me the place of Assistant Secretary of War. 
I said I would accept. 

"All right," said he; "consider it settled." 
As I went out from the War Department into the 
street I met Major Charles G. Halpine — " Miles 
O'Reilly " — of the Sixty-ninth New York Infantry. I 
had known Halpine well as a newspaper man in New 
York, and I told him of my appointment as Mr. Stan- 
ton's assistant. He immediately repeated what I had 
told him to some newspaper people. It was reported in 
the New York papers the next morning. The Secre- 
tary was greatly offended and withdrew the appoint- 

16 



At the Front with Grant's Army. 

ment. When I told Halpine I had, of course, no idea 
he was going to repeat it; besides, I did not think there 
was any harm in telling. 

Immediately after this episode I formed a partner- 
ship with Roscoe Conkling and George W. Chadwick to 
buy cotton. The outcry which the manufacturers had 
raised over the inability to get cotton for their indus- 
tries had induced the Government to permit trading 
through the lines of the army, and the business looked 
profitable. Conkling and I each put ten thousand dol- 
lars into the firm, and Chadwick gave his services, which, 
as he was an expert in cotton, was considered equal to 
our capital. To facilitate our operations, I went to 
Washington to ask Mr. Stanton for letters of recom- 
mendation to the generals on and near the Mississippi, 
where we proposed to begin our purchases. Mr. Stan- 
ton and I had several conversations about the advisabil- 
ity of allowing such traffic, but he did not hesitate about 
giving me the letters I asked. There were several of 
them: one to General Hurlbut, then at Memphis; an- 
other to General Grant, who had begun his movement 
against Vicksburg; and another to General Curtis, who 
commanded in Arkansas. The general purport of them 
was: " Mr. Dana is my friend; you can rely upon what 
he says, and if you can be kind to him in any way you 
will oblige me." 

It was in January, 1863, that Chadwick and I went 
to Memphis, where we stayed at the Gayoso House, at 
that time the swell hotel of the town and the headquar- 
ters of several officers. 

It was not long after I began to study the trade 
3 17 



Recollections of the Civil JVar. 

in cotton before I saw it was a bad business and ought 
to be stopped. I at once wrote Mr. Stanton the follow- 
ing letter, which embodied my observations and gave 
my opinion as to what should be done: 

Memphis, January 21, 1863. 

Dear Sir: You will remember our conversations on 
the subject of excluding cotton speculators from the 
regions occupied by our armies in the South. I now 
write to urge the matter upon your attention as a meas- 
ure of military necessity. 

The mania for sudden fortunes made in cotton, rag- 
ing in a vast population of Jews and Yankees scattered 
throughout this whole country, and in this town almost 
exceeding the numbers of the regular residents, has to 
an alarming extent corrupted and demoralized the army. 
Every colonel, captain, or quartermaster is in secret 
partnership with some operator in cotton; every soldier 
dreams of adding a bale of cotton to his monthly pay. 
I had no conception of the extent of this evil until I 
came and saw for myself. 

Besides, the resources of the rebels are inordinately 
increased from this source. Plenty of cotton is brought 
in from beyond our lines, especially by the agency of 
Jewish traders, who pay for it ostensibly in Treasury 
notes, but really in gold. 

What I would propose is that no private purchaser 
of cotton shall be allowed in any part of the occupied 
region. 

Let quartermasters buy the article at a fixed price, 
say twenty or twenty-five cents per pound, and forward 
it by army transportation to proper centers, say Helena, 
Memphis, or Cincinnati, to be sold at public auction on 
Government account. Let the sales take place on 
regular fixed days, so that all parties desirous of buying 
can be sure when to be present. 

But little capital will be required for such an opera- 
tion. The sales being frequent and for cash, will con- 

18 



At the Front with Grant's Army. 

stantly replace the amount employed for the purpose. 
I should say that two hundred thousand dollars would 
be sufficient to conduct the movement. 

I have no doubt that this two hundred thousand 
dollars so employed would be more than equal to thirty 
thousand men added to the national armies. 

My pecuniary interest is in the continuance of the 
present state of things, for while it lasts there are occa- 
sional opportunities of profit to be made by a daring 
operator; but I should be false to my duty did I, on that 
account, fail to implore you to put an end to an evil so 
enormous, so insidious, and so full of peril to the 
country. 

My first impulse was to hurry to Washington to 
represent these things to you in person; but my en- 
gagements here with other persons will not allow me 
to return East so speedily. I beg you, however, to act 
without delay, if possible. An excellent man to put at 
the head of the business would be General Strong. I 
make this suggestion without any idea whether the em- 
ployment would be agreeable to him. 

Yours faithfully, Charles A. Dana. 

Mr. Stanton. 

P. S. — Since writing the above I have seen General 
Grant, who fully agrees with all my statements and sug- 
gestions, except that imputing corruption to every 
officer, which of course I did not intend to be taken 
literally. 

I have also just attended a public sale by the quar- 
termaster here of five hundred bales of cotton confis- 
cated by General Grant at Oxford and Holly Springs. 
It belonged to Jacob Thompson and other notorious 
rebels. This cotton brought to-day over a million and 
a half of dollars, cash. This sum alone would be five 
times enough to set on foot the system I recommend, 
without drawing upon the Treasury at all. In fact, 
there can be no question that by adopting this system 
the quartermaster's department in this valley would be- 

19 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

come self-supporting, while the army would become 
honest again, and the slaveholders would no longer 
find that the rebellion had quadrupled the price of'their 
great staple, but only doubled it. 

As soon as I could get away from Memphis I went 
to Washington, where I had many conversations with 
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton about restricting the 
trade in cotton. They were deeply interested in my 
observations, and questioned me closely about what I 
had seen. My opinion that the trade should be stopped 
had the more weight because I was able to say, " Gen- 
eral Grant and every general officer whom I have seen 
hopes it will be done." 

The result of these consultations was that on March 
31, 1863, Mr. Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring 
unlawful all commercial intercourse with the States in 
insurrection, except when carried on according to the 
regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 
These regulations Mr. Chase prepared at once. At the 
same time that Mr. Lincoln issued his proclamation, 
Mr. Stanton issued an order forbidding officers and all 
members of the army to have anything to do with the 
trade. In spite of all these regulations, however, and 
the modifications of them which experience brought, 
there was throughout the war more or less difficulty 
over cotton trading. 

From Washington I went back to New York. I 
had not been there long before Mr. Stanton sent for me 
to come to Washington. He wanted some one to go to 
Grant's army, he said, to report daily to him the mili- 
tary proceedings, and to give such information as would 

20 



At the Front with Grants Army. 

enable Mr. Lincoln and himself to settle their minds as 
to Grant, about whom at that time there were many 
doubts, and against whom there was some complaint. 

" Will you go? " Mr. Stanton asked. " Yes," I said. 
" Very well," he replied. " The ostensible function I 
shall give you will be that of special commissioner of 
the War Department to investigate the pay service of 
the Western armies, but your real duty will be to report 
to me every day what you see." 

On March 12th Mr. Stanton wrote me the follow- 
ing letter: 

War Department, 
Washington City, March 12, 1S63. 

Dear Sir: I inclose you a copy of your order of 
appointment and the order fixing your compensation, 
with a letter to Generals Sumner,* Grant, and Rose- 
crans, and a draft for one thousand dollars. Having 
explained the purposes of your appointment to you per- 
sonally, no further instructions will be given unless 
specially required. Please acknowledge the receipt of 
this, and proceed as early as possible to your duties. 
Yours truly, Edwin M. Stanton. 

C. A. Dana, Esq., New York. 

My commission read: 

Ordered, That C. A. Dana, Esq., be and he is 
hereby appointed special commissioner of the War De- 
partment to investigate and report upon the condition 
of the pay service in the Western armies. All pay- 
masters and assistant paymasters will furnish to the said 
commissioner for the Secretary of War information upon 
any matters concerning which he may make inquiry 

* General E. V. Sumner, who had just been relieved, at his own 
request, from the Army of the Potomac and appointed to the Depart- 
ment of the Missouri. He was on his way thither when he died, on 
March 21st. 

21 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

of them as fully and completely and promptly as if di- 
rectly called for by the Secretary of War. Railroad 
agents, quartermasters, and commissioners will give 
him transportation and subsistence. All officers and 
persons in the service will aid him in the performance of 
his duties, and will afford him assistance, courtesy, and 
protection. The said commissioner will make report to 
this department as occasion may require. 

The letters of introduction and explanation to the 
generals were identical: 

General: Charles A. Dana, Esq., has been ap- 
pointed a special commissioner of this department to 
investigate and report upon the condition of the pay 
service in the Western armies. You will please aid him 
in the performance of his duties, and communicate to 
him fully your views and wishes in respect to that 
branch of the service in your command, and also give 
to him such information as you may deem beneficial to 
the service. He is specially commended to your cour- 
tesy and protection. Yours truly, 

Edwin M. Stanton. 

I started at once for Memphis, going by way of 
Cairo and Columbus. 

I sent my first dispatch to the War Department 
from Columbus, on March 20th. It was sent by a secret 
cipher furnished by the War Department, which I used 
myself, for throughout the war I was my own cipher 
clerk. The ordinary method at the various headquar- 
ters was for the sender to write out the dispatch in full, 
after which it was translated from plain English into the 
agreed cipher by a telegraph operator or clerk retained 
for that exclusive purpose, who understood it, and by 
another it was retranslated back again at the other end 

22 



At the Front with Grant's Army. 

of the line. So whatever military secret was trans- 
mitted was at the mercy always of at least two outside 
persons, besides running the gantlet of other prying 
eyes. Dispatches written in complex cipher codes were 
often difficult to unravel, unless transmitted by the 
operator with the greatest precision. A wrong word 
sometimes destroyed the sense of an entire dispatch, 
and important movements were delayed thereby. This 
explains the oft-repeated " I do not understand your 
telegram " found in the official correspondence of the 
war period. 

I have become familiar since the war with a great 
many ciphers, but I never found one which was more 
satisfactory than that which I used in my messages to 
Mr. Stanton. In preparing my message I first wrote it 
out in lines of a given number of words, spaced regu- 
larly so as to form five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten 
columns. My key contained various " routes," to be 
followed in writing out the messages for transmission. 
Thus, a five-column message had one route, a six-col- 
umn another, and so on. The route was indicated by 
a " commencement word." If I had put my message 
into five columns, I would write at the beginning the 
word " Army," or any one in a list of nine words. The 
receiver, on looking for that word in his key, would 
see that he was to write out what he had received in 
lines of five words, thus forming five columns; and then 
he was to read it down the fifth column, up the third, 
down the fourth, up the second, down the first. At the 
end of each column an " extra " or " check " word was 
added as a blind. A list of " blind " words was also 

23 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

printed in the key, with each route, which could be in- 
serted, if wished, at the end of each line so as still further 
to deceive curious people who did not have the key. 
The key contained also a large number of cipher words. 
Thus, P. H. Sheridan was "soap" or "Somerset"; 
President was " Pembroke " or " Penfield." Instead of 
writing "there has been," I wrote "maroon"; instead 
of secession, "mint"; instead of Vicksburg, "Cupid." 
My own cipher was " spunky " or " squad." The days, 
months, hours, numerals, and alphabet all had ciphers. 

The only message sent by this cipher to be trans- 
lated by an outsider on the route, so far as I know, was 
that one of 4 p. m., September 20, 1863, in which I re- 
ported the Union defeat at Chickamauga. General R. 
S. Granger, who was then at Nashville, was at the tele- 
graph office waiting for news when my dispatch passed 
through. The operator guessed out the dispatch, as he 
afterward confessed, and it was passed around Nash- 
ville. The agent of the Associated Press at Louisville 
sent out a private printed circular quoting me as an 
authority for reporting the battle as a total defeat, and 
in Cincinnati Horace Maynard repeated, the same day 
of the battle, the entire second sentence of the dispatch, 
" Chickamauga is as fatal a name in our history as Bull 
Run." 

This premature disclosure to the public of what was 
only the truth, well known at the front, caused a great 
deal of trouble. I immediately set on foot an investiga- 
tion to discover who had penetrated our cipher code, 
and soon arrived at a satisfactory understanding of the 
matter, of which Mr. Stanton was duly informed. No 

24 



At the Front with Grant's Army. 

blame could attach to me, as was manifest upon the in- 
quiry; nevertheless, the sensation resulted in consid- 
erable annoyance all along the line from Chattanooga 
to Washington. I suggested to Mr. Stanton the ad- 
visability of concocting a new and more difficult cipher, 
but it was never changed, so far as I now remember. 

It was from Columbus, Ky., on March 20, 1863, 
that I sent my first telegram to the War Department. 
I did not remain in Columbus long, for there was abso- 
lutely no trustworthy information there respecting af- 
fairs down the river, but took a boat to Memphis, 
where I arrived on March 23d. I found General Hurl- 
but in command. I had met Hurlbut in January, when 
on my cotton business, and he gave me every oppor- 
tunity to gather information concerning the operations 
against Vicksburg. Four different plans for reaching 
the city were then on foot, the essential element of all 
of them being to secure for the army on the high 
ground behind the city a foothold whence it could 
strike, and at the same time be supplied from a river 
base. The first and oldest and apparently most prom- 
ising of these plans was that of the canal across the 
neck of the peninsula facing Vicksburg, on the Lou- 
isiana side. When I reached Memphis this canal was 
thought to be nearly done. 

The second route was by Lake Providence, about 
forty miles north of Vicksburg, in Louisiana. It was 
close to the western bank of the Mississippi, with which 
it was proposed to connect it by means of a canal. The 
Bayou Macon connected Lake Providence with the 
Tensas River. By descending the Tensas to the 

25 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

Washita, the Washita to the Red, the Red to the Mis- 
sissippi, the army could be landed on the east bank of 
the Mississippi about one hundred and fifty miles south 
of Vicksburg, and thence could be marched north. Mc- 
Pherson, with his Seventeenth Corps, had been ordered 
by Grant on January 30th to open this route. It was 
reported at Memphis when I arrived there that the 
cutting of Lake Providence was perfectly successful, 
but that Bayou Macon was full of snags, which must be 
got out before the Tensas would be accessible. 

The third and fourth routes proposed for getting 
behind Vicksburg — namely, by Yazoo Pass and Steele's 
Bayou — were attracting the chief attention when I 
reached Memphis. Yazoo Pass opened from the east- 
ern bank of the Mississippi at a point about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles above Vicksburg into Moon Lake, 
and thence into the Coldwater River. Through the 
Coldwater and the Tallahatchie the Yazoo River was 
reached. If troops could follow this route and capture 
Haynes's Bluff, fourteen miles from the mouth of the 
Yazoo, Vicksburg at once became untenable. The 
Yazoo Pass operation had begun in February, but the 
detachment had had bad luck, and on my arrival at 
Memphis was lying up the Yallabusha waiting for re- 
enforcements and supplies. 

An attempt was being made also to reach the Yazoo 
by a roundabout route through Steele's Bayou, Deer 
Creek, the Rolling Fork, and the Big Sunflower. Grant 
had learned of this route only a short time before my 
arrival, and had at once sent Sherman with troops and 
Admiral Porter with gunboats to attempt to reach the 

26 



At the Front with Grant's Army. 

Yazoo. On March 27th reports came to Memphis that 
Sherman had landed twenty regiments on the east bank 
of the Yazoo above Haynes's Bluff, and that the gun- 
boats were there to support him. Reports from other 
points also were so encouraging that the greatest en- 
thusiasm prevailed throughout the army, and General 
Grant was said to be dead sure he would have Vicks- 
burg within a fortnight. 

Five days later, however, we heard at Memphis that 
there had been a series of disasters in these different 
operations, that the Yazoo Pass expedition was defi- 
nitely abandoned, and that General Grant had an en- 
tirely new plan of campaign. 

I had not been long at Memphis before I decided 
that it was impossible to gather trustworthy news there. 
I had to rely for most of my information on the reports 
brought up the river by occasional officers, not all 
of whom were sure of what they told, and on the stories 
of persons coming from the vicinity of the different 
operations. Occasionally an intelligent planter arrived 
whom I was inclined to believe, but on the whole I 
found that my sources of information were few and un- 
certain. I accordingly suggested to Mr. Stanton, three 
days after my arrival, that I would be more useful far- 
ther down the river. In reply he telegraphed: 

War Department, 
Washington City, March jo, 1863. 

C. A. Dana, Esq., Memphis, Term., via Cairo : 

Your telegrams have been received, and although" 
the information has been meager and unsatisfactory, I 
am conscious that arises from no fault of yours. You 
will proceed to General Grant's headquarters, or wher- 

27 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

ever you may be best able to accomplish the purposes 
designated by this department. You will consider your 
movements to be governed by your own discretion, 
without any restriction. 

Edwin M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War. 

As soon after receiving his telegram as I could get a 
boat I left Memphis for Milliken's Bend, where General 
Grant had his headquarters. I reached there at noon on 
April 6th. 

The Mississippi at Milliken's Bend was a mile wide, 
and the sight as we came down the river by boat was 
most imposing. Grant's big army was stretched up and 
down the river bank over the plantations, its white tents 
affording a new decoration to the natural magnificence 
of the broad plains. These plains, which stretch far 
back from the river, were divided into rich and old plan- 
tations by blooming hedges of rose and Osage orange, 
the mansions of the owners being inclosed in roses, 
myrtles, magnolias, oaks, and every other sort of beau- 
tiful and noble trees. The negroes whose work made 
all this wealth and magnificence were gone, and there 
was nothing growing in the fields. 

For some days after my arrival I lived in a steam- 
boat tied up to the shore, for though my tent was 
pitched and ready, I was not able to get a mattress and 
pillow. From the deck of the steamer I saw in those 
days many a wonderful and to me novel sight. One 
I remember still. I was standing out on the upper 
deck with a group of officers, when we saw far away, 
close to the other shore of the river, a long line of some- 

28 



At the Front with Grants Army. 

thing white floating in the water. We thought it was 
foam, but it was too long and white, and that it was 
cotton which had been thrown into the river, but it was 
too straight and regular. Presently we heard a gun 
fired, then another, and then we saw it was an enor- 
mous flock of swans. They arose from the water one 
after the other, and sailed away up the river in long, 
curving, silver lines, bending and floating almost like 
clouds, and finally disappearing high up in the air above 
the green woods on the Mississippi shore. I suppose 
there were a thousand of them. 

I had not been long at Milliken's Bend before I 
was on friendly terms with all the generals, big and 
little, and one or two of them I found were very rare 
men. Sherman especially impressed me as a man of 
genius and of the widest intellectual acquisitions. 
Every day I rode in one direction or another with an 
officer, inspecting the operations going on. From what 
I saw on my rides over the country I got a new insight 
into slavery, which made me no more a friend to that 
institution than I was before. I had seen slavery in 
Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, and Missouri, but it was 
not till I saw these great Louisiana plantations with all 
their apparatus for living and working that I really felt 
the aristocratic nature of the institution, and the in- 
fernal baseness of that aristocracy. Every day my con- 
viction was intensified that the territorial and political 
integrity of the nation must be preserved at all costs, 
no matter how long it took; that it was better to keep 
up the existing war as long as was necessary, rather 
than to make arrangement for indefinite wars hereafter 

29 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

and for other disruptions; that we must have it out then, 
and settle forever the question, so that our children 
would be able to attend to other matters. For my own 
part, I preferred one nation and one country, with a 
military government afterward, if such should follow, 
rather than two or three nations and countries with 
the semblance of the old Constitution in each of them, 
ending in wars and despotisms everywhere. 

As soon as I arrived at Milliken's Bend, on April 
6th, I had hunted up Grant and explained my mission. 
He received me cordially. Indeed, I think Grant was 
always glad to have me with his army. He did not like 
letter writing, and my daily dispatches to Mr. Stanton 
relieved him from the necessity of describing every day 
what was going on in the army. From the first neither 
he nor any of his staff or corps commanders evinced 
any unwillingness to show me the inside of things. In 
this first interview at Milliken's Bend, for instance, 
Grant explained to me so fully his new plan of cam- 
paign — for there was now but one — that by three 
o'clock I was able to send an outline of it to Mr. Stan- 
ton. From that time I saw and knew all the interior 
operations of that toughest of tough jobs, the reopen- 
ing of the Mississippi. 

The new project, so Grant told me, was to transfer 
his army to New Carthage, and from there carry it over 
the Mississippi, landing it at or about Grand Gulf; to 
capture this point, and then to operate rapidly on the 
southern and eastern shore of the Big Black River, 
threatening at the same time both Vicksburg and Jack- 
son, and confusing the Confederates as to his real ob- 

30 



At the Front with Grant's Army. 

jective. If this could be done he believed the enemy; 
would come out of Vicksburg and fight. 

The first element in this plan was to open a passage 
from the Mississippi near Milliken's Bend, above Vicks- 
burg, to the bayou on the west side, which led around 
to New Carthage below. The length of navigation in 
this cut-off was about thirty-seven miles, and the plan 
was to take through with small tugs perhaps fifty barges, 
enough, at least, to transfer the whole army, with artil- 
lery and baggage, to the other side of the Mississippi in 
twenty-four hours. If necessary, troops were to be 
transported by the canal, though Grant hoped to march 
them by the road along its bank. Part of McClernand's 
corps had already reached New Carthage overland, 
and Grant was hurrying other troops forward. The 
canal to the bayou was already half completed, 
thirty-five hundred men being at work on it when I 
arrived. 

The second part of the plan was to float down the 
river, past the Vicksburg batteries, half a dozen steam- 
boats protected by defenses of bales of cotton and wet 
hay; these steamboats were to serve as transports of 
supplies after the army had crossed the Mississippi. 

Perhaps the best evidence of the feasibility of the 
project was found in the fact that the river men pro- 
nounced its success certain. General Sherman, who 
commanded one of the three corps in Grant's army, and 
with whom I conversed at length upon the subject, 
thought there was no difficulty in opening the passage, 
but that the line would be a precarious one for supplies 
after the army was thrown across the Mississippi. Sher- 

31 



"Recollections of the Civil IVar. 

man's preference was for a movement by way of Yazoo 
Pass, or Lake Providence, but it was not long before I 
saw in our daily talks that his mind was tending to the 
conclusion of General Grant. As for General Grant, his 
purpose was dead set on the new scheme. Admiral 
Porter cordially agreed with him. 

An important modification was made a few days 
after my arrival in the plan of operations. It was deter- 
mined that after the occupation of Grand Gulf the main 
army, instead of operating up the Big Black toward 
Jackson, should proceed down the river against Port 
Hudson, co-operating with General Banks against 
that point, and that after the capture of Port Hud- 
son the two united forces should proceed against 
Vicksburg. 

There seemed to be only one hitch in the campaign. 
Grant had intrusted the attack on Grand Gulf to Mc- 
Clernand. Sherman, Porter, and other leading officers 
believed this a mistake, and talked frankly with me 
about it. One night when we had all gathered at 
Grant's headquarters and were talking over the cam- 
paign very freely, as we were accustomed to do, both 
Sherman and Porter protested against the arrangement. 
But Grant would not be changed. McClernand, he 
said, was exceedingly desirous of the command. He 
was the senior of the other corps commanders. He was 
an especial favorite of the President, and the position 
which his corps occupied on the ground when the move- 
ment was first projected was such that the advance 
naturally fell to its lot; besides, he had entered zealously 
into the plan from the first, while Sherman had doubted 

32 



At the Front with Grant's Army. 

and criticised, and McPherson, whom Grant said he 
would really have much preferred, was away at Lake 
Providence, and though he had approved of the scheme, 
he had taken no active part in it. 

I believed the assignment of this duty to McClernand 
to be so dangerous that I added my expostulation to 
those of the generals, and in reporting the case to Mr. 
Stanton I wrote: " I have remonstrated so far as I could 
properly do so against intrusting so momentous an 
operation to McClernand." 

Mr. Stanton replied: "Allow me to suggest that 
you carefully avoid giving any advice in respect to com- 
mands that may be assigned, as it may lead to misun- 
derstanding and troublesome complications." Of 
course, after that I scrupulously observed his directions, 
even in extreme cases. 

As the days went on everybody, in spite of this hitch, 
became more sanguine that the new project would suc- 
ceed. For my part I had not a doubt of it, as one can 
see from this fragment written from Milliken's Bend on 
April 13th to one of my friends: 

" Like all who really know the facts, I feel no sort 
of doubt that we shall before long get the nut cracked. 
Probably before this letter reaches New York on its 
way to you the telegraph will get ahead of it with the 
news that Grant, masking Vicksburg, deemed impreg- 
nable by its defenders, has carried the bulk of his army 
down the river through a cut-off which he has opened 
without the enemy believing it could be done; has occu- 
pied Grand Gulf, taken Port Hudson, and, effecting a 
junction with the forces of Banks, has returned up the 
4 33 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

river to threaten Jackson and compel the enemy to come 
out of Vicksburg and fight him on ground of his own 
choosing. Of course this scheme may miscarry in whole 
or in parts, but as yet the chances all favor its execution, 
which is now just ready to begin." 



34 



CHAPTER III. 

BEFORE AND AROUND VICKSBURG. 

The hard job of reopening the Mississippi — Admiral Porter runs the 
Confederate batteries — Headquarters moved to Smith's plantation 
— Delay and confusion in McClernand's command — The unsuc- 
cessful attack on Grand Gulf — The move to the east shore — Mr. 
Dana secures a good horse. 

On the new lines adopted by General Grant, the 
work went on cheeringly, though every day changes 
were made in the details. I spent my days in riding from 
point to point, noting the progress. I went out often 
with Colonel G. G. Pride, the engineer officer, in whose 
mess I was, and who was superintending the construc- 
tion of the canal which led from Duckport to the bayou. 
The work on this canal was a curious sight to see, for 
there was a force equal to five regiments at the digging, 
while a large number of pioneers were engaged in clear- 
ing the bayou beyond. The canal was opened on April 
13th, and the authorities agreed that there was no rea- 
son to doubt its usefulness, though the obstructions in 
the bayou were so numerous that it was thought that it 
would require several days more to clear a passage for 
tugs and barges. 

One of my most interesting trips from Milliken's 
Bend was made with Major James H. Wilson to view 
the casemated batteries our engineers were constructing 

35 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

on the shore opposite Vicksburg. They hoped with the 
thirty-pound Parrotts they were putting in to be able 
to destroy any building in the town. From behind the 
levee of the peninsula we were able with our glasses to 
examine the fortifications of Vicksburg. 

The best look I had at that town, however, while 
I was at Milliken's Bend was not from the peninsula 
opposite, but from a gunboat. On April 12th I went 
down with a flag of truce to the vicinity of Vicksburg, 
so that I got a capital view. It was an ugly place, 
with its line of bluffs commanding the channel for fully 
seven miles, and battery piled above battery all the 
way. 

Admiral Porter's arrangements for carrying out the 
second part of Grant's scheme — that is, running the 
Vicksburg batteries — were all completed by April 16th, 
the ironclads and steamers being protected in vulnerable 
parts by bulwarks of hay, cotton, and sand bags, and 
the barges loaded with forage, coal, and the camp equip- 
ment of General McClernand's corps, which was already 
at New Carthage. No doubt was felt that the design 
was known in Vicksburg, and it was arranged that Ad- 
miral Porter should open fire there with all his guns as 
he swept past the town, and that the new batteries on 
the levee opposite the city should also participate. 
Admiral Porter was to go with the expedition on a small 
tug, and he invited me to accompany him, but it seemed 
to me that I ought not to get out of my communica- 
tions, and so refused. Instead, I joined Grant on his 
headquarters boat, which was stationed on the right 
bank of the river, where from the bows we could see the 

36 



Before and Around Vichburg. 

squadron as it started, and could follow its course until 
it was nearly past Vicksburg. 

Just before ten o'clock on the night of April 16th 
the squadron cast loose its moorings. It was a strange 
scene. First a mass of black things detached itself from 
the shore, and we saw it float out toward the middle 
of the stream. There was nothing to be seen except 
this big black mass, which dropped slowly down the 
river. Soon another black mass detached itself, and an- 
other, then another. It was Admiral Porter's fleet of 
ironclad turtles, steamboats, and barges. They floated 
down the Mississippi darkly and silently, showing 
neither steam nor light, save occasionally a signal astern, 
where the enemy could not see it. 

The vessels moved at intervals of about two hundred 
yards. First came seven ironclad turtles and one heavy 
armed ram ; following these were two side-wheel 
steamers and one stern-wheel, having twelve barges in 
tow; these barges carried the supplies. Far astern of 
them was one carrying ammunition. The most of the 
gunboats had already doubled the tongue of land which 
stretches northeasterly in front of Vicksburg, and they 
were immediately under the guns of nearly all the Con- 
federate batteries, when there was a flash from the upper 
forts, and then for an hour and a half the cannonade was 
terrific, raging incessantly along the line of about four 
miles in extent. I counted five hundred and twenty- 
five discharges. Early in the action the enemy put the 
torch to a frame building in front of Vicksburg to light 
up the scene and direct his fire. 

About 12.45 A - M - one of our steamers, the Henry 

37 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

Clay, took fire, and burned for three quarters of an 
hour. The Henry Clay was lost by being abandoned 
by her captain and crew in a panic, they thinking her to 
be sinking. The pilot refused to go with them, and 
said if they would stay they would get her through safe. 
After they had fled in the yawls, the cotton bales on her 
deck took fire, and one wheel became unmanageable. 
The pilot then ran her aground, and got upon a plank, 
on which he was picked up four miles below. 

The morning after Admiral Porter had run the 
Vicksburg batteries I went with General Grant to New 
Carthage to review the situation. We found the squad- 
ron there, all in fighting condition, though most of them 
had been hit. Not a man had been lost. 

As soon as we returned to Milliken's Bend Grant 

ordered that six transport steamers, each loaded with 

one hundred thousand rations and forty days' coal, 

should be made ready to run the Vicksburg batteries. 

The order was executed on the night of the 22d. The 

transports were manned throughout, officers, engineers, 

pilots, and deck hands, by volunteers from the army, 

mainly from Logan's division. This dangerous service 

was sought with great eagerness, and experienced men 

had been found for every post. If ten thousand men had 

been wanted instead of one hundred and fifty, they 

would have engaged with zeal in the adventure. In 

addition to bulwarks of hay, cotton, and pork barrels, 

each transport was protected by a barge on each side 

of it. Orders were to drop noiselessly down with the 

current from the mouth of the Yazoo, and not show 

steam till the enemy's batteries began firing, when the 

38 



Before and Around Ficksburg. 

boats were to use all their legs. The night was cloudy, 
and the run was made with the loss of one of the trans- 
ports, the Tigress, which was sunk, and a few men 
wounded. 

The day after these transports with supplies ran the 
Vicksburg batteries General Grant changed his head- 
quarters to Smith's plantation, near New Carthage. 
All of McClernand's corps, the Thirteenth, was now 
near there, and that officer said ten thousand men would 
be ready to move from New Carthage the next day. 
McPherson's corps, which had been busy upon the Lake 
Providence expedition and other services, but which 
had been ordered to join, was now, except one division, 
moving over from Milliken's Bend. Sherman's corps, 
the Fifteenth, which had been stationed at Young's 
Point, was also under marching orders to New Car- 
thage. 

Grant's first object now was to cross the Mississippi 
as speedily as possible and capture Grand Gulf before it 
could be re-enforced; but first it was necessary to know 
the strength of this point. On the 22d Admiral Porter 
had gone down with his gunboats and opened fire to 
ascertain the position and strength of the batteries. He 
reported them too strong to overcome, and earnestly 
advised against a direct attack. He suggested that the 
troops either be marched down the west side from New 
Carthage to a point where they could be ferried over the 
Mississippi just below Grand Gulf, or that they be em- 
barked on the transports and barges and floated past 
the batteries in the night. 

The day after Grant changed his headquarters to 

39 



Recollections of the Civil W 'ar. 

Smith's plantation he went himself with General Porter 
to reconnoiter Grand Gulf. His reconnoissance con- 
vinced him that the place was not so strong as Admiral 
Porter had supposed, and an attack was ordered to be 
made as soon as the troops could be made ready, the 
next day, April 26th, if possible. 

An irritating delay occurred then, however. Mc- 
Clernand's corps was not ready to move. When we 
came to Smith's plantation, on the 24th, I had seen 
that there was apparently much confusion in McCler- 
nand's command, and I was astonished to find, now 
that he was ordered to move across the Mississippi, that 
he was planning to carry his bride with her servants, 
and baggage along with him, although Grant had 
ordered that officers should leave behind everything 
that could impede the march. 

On the 26th, the day when it was hoped to make 
an attack on Grand Gulf, I went with Grant by water 
from our headquarters at Smith's plantation down 
to New Carthage and to Perkins's plantation below, 
where two of McClernand's divisions were encamped. 
These troops, it was supposed, were ready for immediate 
embarkation, and there were quite as many as all the 
transports could carry, but the first thing which struck 
us both on approaching the points of embarkation was 
that the steamboats and barges were scattered about 
in the river and in the bayou as if there was no idea of 
the imperative necessity of the promptest movement 

possible.v 

We at once steamed to Admiral Porter's flagship, 
which was lying just above Grand Gulf, and Grant sent 

40 



Before and Around Fichsburg. 

for McClernand, ordering him to embark his men with- 
out losing a moment. In spite of this order, that night 
at dark, when a thunderstorm set in, not a single cannon 
or man had been moved. Instead, McClernand held a 
review of a brigade of Illinois troops at Perkins's about 
four o'clock in the afternoon. At the same time a salute 
of artillery was fired, notwithstanding the positive 
orders that had repeatedly been given to use no ammu- 
nition for any purpose except against the enemy. 

When we got back from the river to headquarters, 
on the night of the 26th, we found that McPherson had 
arrived at Smith's plantation with the first division of his 
corps, the rear being not very far behind. His whole 
force would have been up the next day, but it was neces- 
sary to arrest its movements until McClernand could 
be got out of the way; this made McClernand's delay 
the more annoying. General Lorenzo Thomas, who 
was on the Mississippi at this time organizing negro 
troops, told me that he believed now that McPherson 
would actually have his men ready to embark before 
McClernand. 

Early the next morning, April 27th, I went with 
Grant from Smith's plantation back to New Carthage. 
As soon as we arrived the general wrote a very severe 
letter to McClernand, but learning that at last the trans- 
port steamers and barges had been concentrated for 
use he did not send the rebuke. Grant spent the day 
there completing the preparations for embarking, and 
on the morning of the 28th about ten thousand men 
were on board. This force was not deemed sufficient 
for the attack on Grand Gulf, so the troops were brought 

4i 



Recollections of the Civil ffar. 

down to Hard Times landing, on the Louisiana side, 
almost directly across the river from Grand Gulf, where 
a portion of them were debarked, and the transports 
sent back for Hovey's division, six thousand strong. 
We spent the night at Hard Times waiting for these 
troops, which arrived about daylight on the morning of 
the 29th. 

There were now sixteen thousand men at Hard 
Times ready to be landed at the foot of the Grand Gulf 
bluff as soon as its batteries were silenced. At precisely 
eight o'clock the gunboats opened their attack. Seven, 
all ironclads, were engaged, and a cannonade was 
kept up for nearly six hours. We soon found that the 
enemy had five batteries, the first and most formidable 
of them being placed on the high promontory close to 
the mouth of the Big Black. The lower batteries, 
mounting smaller guns and having no more than two 
pieces each, were silenced early in the action, but this 
one obstinately resisted. For the last four hours of the 
engagement the whole seven gunboats were employed 
in firing at this one battery, now at long range, seeking 
to drop shells within the parapet, now at the very foot 
of the hill, within about two hundred yards, endeavor- 
ing to dismount its guns by direct fire. It was hit again 
and again, but its pieces were not disabled. At last, 
about half past one o'clock, Admiral Porter gave the 
signal to withdraw. The gunboats had been hit more 
or less severely. I was on board the Benton during the 
attack, and saw that her armor had been pierced re- 
peatedly both in her sides and her pilot house, but she 
had not a gun disabled; and except for the holes 

42 



Before and Around Vicksburg. 

through her mail, some of them in her hull, she was as 
ready to fight as at the beginning of the action. 

The batteries having proved too much for the gun- 
boats, General Grant determined to execute an alterna- 
tive plan which he had had in mind from the first; that 
was, to debark the troops and march them south across 
the peninsula which faces Grand Gulf to a place out of 
reach of the Confederate guns. While the engagement 
between the gunboats and batteries had been going on, 
all the rest of McClernand's corps had reached Hard 
Times, having marched around by land, and three divi- 
sions of McPherson's corps had also come up. This 
entire body of about thirty-five thousand men was im- 
mediately started across the peninsula to De Shroon's 
plantation, where it was proposed to embark them again. 

Late in the evening I left Hard Times with Grant 
to ride across the peninsula to De Shroon's. The night 
was pitch dark, and, as we rode side by side, Grant's 
horse suddenly gave a nasty stumble. I expected to see 
the general go over the animal's head, and I watched 
intently, not to see if he was hurt, but if he would show 
any anger. I had been with Grant daily now for three 
weeks, and I had never seen him ruffled or heard him 
swear. His equanimity was becoming a curious spec- 
tacle to me. When I saw his horse lunge my first 
thought was, " Now he will swear." For an instant his 
moral status was on trial; but Grant was a tenacious 
horseman, and instead of going over the animal's head, 
as I imagined he would, he kept his seat. Pulling up 
his horse, he rode on, and, to my utter amazement, with- 
out a word or sign of impatience. And it is a fact that 

43 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

though I was with Grant during the most trying cam- 
paigns of the war, I never heard him use an oath. 

In order to get the transports past Grand Gulf, Por- 
ter's gunboats had engaged the batteries about dusk. 
This artillery duel lasted until about ten o'clock, the 
gunboats withdrawing as soon as the transports were 
safely past, and steaming at once to De Shroon's plan- 
tation, where General McClernand's corps was all ready 
to take the transports. The night was spent in em- 
barking the men. By eleven o'clock the next morning, 
April 30th, three divisions were landed on the east 
shore of the Mississippi at the place General Grant had 
selected. This was Bruinsburg, sixty miles south of 
Vicksburg, and the first point south of Grand Gulf 
from which the highlands of the interior could be 
reached by a road over dry land. 

I was obliged to separate from Grant on the 30th, 
for the means for transporting troops and officers were 
so limited that neither an extra man nor a particle of 
unnecessary baggage was allowed, and I did not get 
over until the morning of May 1st, after the army had 
moved on Port Gibson, where they first engaged the 
enemy. As soon as I was landed at Bruinsburg I 
started in the direction of the battle, on foot, of course, 
as no horses had been brought over. I had not gone 
far before I overtook a quartermaster driving toward 
Port Gibson; he took me into his wagon. About four 
miles from Port Gibson we came upon the first signs of 
the battle, a field where it was evident that there had 
been a struggle. I got out of the wagon as we ap- 
proached, and started toward a little white house with 

44 



Before and Around Vichburg. 

green blinds, covered with vines. The little white house 
had been taken as a field hospital, and the first thing my 
eyes fell upon as I went into the yard was a heap of arms 
and legs which had been amputated and thrown into 
a pile outside. I had seen men shot and dead men 
plenty, but this pile of legs and arms gave me a vivid 
sense of war such as I had not before experienced. 

As the army was pressing the Confederates toward 
Port Gibson all that day I followed in the rear, without 
overtaking General Grant. While trailing along after 
the Union forces I came across Fred Grant, then a lad 
of thirteen, who had been left asleep by his father on a 
steamer at Bruinsburg, but who had started out on 
foot like myself as soon as he awoke and found the 
army had marched. We tramped and foraged together 
until the next morning, when some officers who had 
captured two old horses gave us each one. We got the 
best bridles and saddles we could, and thus equipped 
made our way into Port Gibson, which the enemy had 
deserted and where General Grant now had his head- 
quarters. I rode that old horse for four or five days, 
then by a chance I got a good one. A captured Con- 
federate officer had been brought before General Grant 
for examination. Now this man had a very good horse, 
and after Grant had finished his questions the officer 
said: 

" General, this horse and saddle are my private 
property; they do not belong to the Confederate army; 
they belong to me as a citizen, and I trust you will let 
me have them. Of course, while I am a prisoner I do 
not expect to be allowed to ride the horse, but I hope 

45 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar, 

you will regard him as my property, and finally restore 
him to me." 

" Well," said Grant, " I have got four or five first- 
rate horses wandering somewhere about the Southern 
Confederacy. They have been captured from me in 
battle or by spies. I will authorize you, whenever you 
find one of them, to take possession of him. I cheer- 
fully give him to you; but as for this horse, I think he is 
just about the horse Mr. Dana needs." 

I rode my new acquisition afterward through that 
whole campaign, and when I came away I turned him 
over to the quartermaster. Whenever I went out with 
General Grant anywhere he always had some question 
to ask about that horse. 



46 



CHAPTER IV. 

IN CAMP AND BATTLE WITH GRANT AND HIS GENERALS. 

Marching into the enemy's country — A night in a church with a Bible 
for pillow — Our communications are cut — Entering the capital of 
Mississippi — The War Department gives Grant full authority — 
Battle of Champion's Hill — General Logan's peculiarity — Battle- 
field incidents — Vicksburg invested and the siege begun — Per- 
sonal traits of Sherman, McPherson, and McClernand. 

It was the second day of May, 1863, when I rode 
into Port Gibson, Miss., and inquired for Grant's head- 
quarters. I found the general in a little house of 
the village, busily directing the advance of the army. 
He told me that in the battle of the day before the 
Confederates had been driven back on the roads to 
Grand Gulf and Vicksburg, and that our forces were 
now in full pursuit. By the next morning, May 3d, our 
troops had possession of the roads as far as the Big 
Black. As soon as he was sure of this, General Grant 
started with a brigade of infantry and some twenty cav- 
alrymen for Grand Gulf. I accompanied him on the 
trip. When within about seven miles of Grand Gulf we 
found that the town had been deserted, and leaving the 
brigade we entered with the cavalry escort. 

During this ride to Grand Gulf Grant made inquiries 
on every side about the food supplies of the country we 
were entering. He told me he had been gathering in- 

47 



Recollections of the Civil JVar. 

formation on this point ever since the army crossed the 
Mississippi, and had made up his mind that both beef 
and cattle and corn were abundant in the country. The 
result of this inquiry was that here at Grand Gulf Grant 
took the resolve which makes the Vicksburg campaign 
so famous — that of abandoning entirely his base of sup- 
plies as soon as the army was all up and the rations on 
the way arrived, boldly striking into the interior, and 
depending on the country for meat and even for bread. 

We did not reach Grand Gulf until late on May 3d, 
but at one o'clock on the morning of the 4th Grant was 
off for the front. He had decided that it was useless to 
bring up the army to this place, to the capture of which 
we had been so long looking, and which had been 
abandoned so quickly now that our army was across 
the Mississippi. I did not follow until later in the day, 
and so had an opportunity of seeing General Sherman. 
His corps was marching from above as rapidly as pos- 
sible down to Hard Times landing, and he had come 
over to Grand Gulf to see about debarking his troops 
there; this he succeeded in doing a couple of days later. 

That evening I joined Grant at his new headquar- 
ters at Hankinson's Ferry on the Big Black, and now 
began my first experience with army marching into an 
enemy's territory. A glimpse of my life at this time is 
given in a letter to a child, written the morning after I 
rejoined Grant: 

" All of a sudden it is very cold here. Two days ago 
it was hot like summer, but now I sit in my tent in my 
overcoat, writing, and thinking if I only were at home 
instead of being almost two thousand miles away. 

48 



In Camp and Battle with Grant and his Generals. 



t( 



Away yonder, in the edge of the woods, I hear 
the drum-beat that calls the soldiers to their supper. It 
is only a little after five o'clock, but they begin the day 
very early and end it early. Pretty soon after dark they 
are all asleep, lying in their blankets under the trees, 
for in a quick march they leave their tents behind. 
Their guns are all ready at their sides, so that if they 
are suddenly called at night they can start in a moment. 
It is strange in the morning before daylight to hear the 
bugle and drums sound the reveille, which calls the army 
to wake up. It will begin perhaps at a distance and 
then run along the whole line, bugle after bugle and 
drum after drum taking it up, and then it goes from 
front to rear, farther and farther away, the sweet sounds 
throbbing and rolling while you lie on the grass with 
your saddle for a pillow, half awake, or opening your 
eyes to see that the stars are all bright in the sky, or 
that there is only a faint flush in the east, where the 
day is soon to break. 

" Living in camp is queer business. I get my meals 
in General Grant's mess, and pay my share of the ex- 
penses. The table is a chest with a double cover, which 
unfolds on the right and the left; the dishes, knives and 
forks, and caster are inside. Sometimes we get good 
things, but generally we don't. The cook is an old 
negro, black and grimy. The cooking is not as clean as 
it might be, but in war you can't be particular about 
such things. 

" The plums and peaches here are pretty nearly ripe. 
The strawberries have been ripe these few days, but the 
soldiers eat them up before we get a sight of them. The 
5 49 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

figs are as big as the end of your thumb, and the green 
pears are big enough to eat. But you don't know what 
beautiful flower gardens there are here. I never saw 
such roses; and the other day I found a lily as big as a 
tiger lily, only it was a magnificent red." 

Grant's policy now was to push the Confederates 
ahead of him up the Big Black River, threatening Jack- 
son, the State capital, and the Big Black bridge behind 
Vicksburg, and capturing both if necessary. His 
opinion was that this maneuver would draw Pember- 
ton out of Vicksburg and bring on a decisive battle 
within ten days. 

From Hankinson's Ferry, the headquarters were 
changed on the 7th to Rocky Springs, and there we 
remained until the nth. By that time McClernand 
and McPherson had advanced to within ten or twelve 
miles of the railroad which runs from Vicksburg to 
Jackson, and were lying nearly in an east and west line; 
and Sherman's entire corps had reached Hankinson's 
Ferry. Supplies which Grant had ordered from Milli- 
ken's Bend had also arrived. The order was now given 
to Sherman to destroy the bridge at Hankinson's Ferry, 
the rear guards were abandoned, and our communica- 
tions cut. So complete was our isolation that it was ten 
days after we left Rocky Springs, on May 1 ith, before I 
was able to get another dispatch to Mr. Stanton. 

This march toward Jackson proved to be no easy 
affair. More than one night I bivouacked on the 
ground in the rain after being all day in my saddle. The 
most comfortable night I had, in fact, was in a church 
of which the officers had taken possession. Having no 

5o 



In Camp and Battle with Grant and his Generals. 

pillow, I went up to the pulpit and borrowed the Bible 
for the night. Dr. H. L. Hewitt, who was medical 
director on Grant's staff, slept near me, and he always 
charged me afterward with stealing that Bible. 

In spite of the roughness of our life, it was all of in- 
tense interest to me, particularly the condition of the 
people over whose country we were marching. A fact 
which impressed me was the total absence of men 
capable of bearing arms. Only old men and children 
remained. The young men were all in the army or 
had perished in it. The South was drained of its youtfr. 
An army of half a million with a white population of 
only five millions to draw upon, must soon finish the 
stock of raw material for soldiers. Another fact of 
moment was that we found men who had at the first 
sympathized with the rebellion, and even joined in it, 
now of their own accord rendering Grant the most 
valuable assistance, in order that the rebellion might 
be ended as speedily as possible, and something saved 
by the Southern people out of the otherwise total and 
hopeless ruin. " Slavery is gone, other property is 
mainly gone," they said, " but, for God's sake, let us save 
some relic of our former means of living." 

In this forward movement the left of the army was 
ordered to hug the Big Black as closely as possible, 
while the right moved straight on Raymond. On the 
1 2th, the right wing, under McPherson, met the ene- 
my just west of Raymond. Grant at the time had his 
headquarters about at the center of the army, with Sher- 
man's corps, some seven miles west of Raymond. 
I left him to go to the scene of the battle at once. It 

5i 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

was a hard-fought engagement, lasting some three 
hours. McPherson drove the Confederates back to and 
through Raymond, and there stopped. The next day 
the advance of the army toward Jackson was continued. 
It rained heavily on the march and the roads were very 
heavy, but the troops were in the best of spirits at their 
successes and prospects. This work was a great im- 
provement on digging canals and running batteries. On 
the afternoon of the 14th, about two and a half miles 
west of Jackson, McPherson and Sherman were tem- 
porarily stopped by the enemy, but he was quickly de- 
feated, and that night we entered the capital of Mis- 
sissippi. 

At Jackson I received an important telegram from 
Stanton, though how it got to me there I do not re- 
member. General Grant had been much troubled by 
the delay McClernand had caused at New Carthage, but 
he had felt reluctant to remove him as he had been 
assigned to his command by the President. My re- 
ports to the Secretary on the situation had convinced 
him that Grant ought to have perfect independence in 
the matter, so he telegraphed me as follows: 

Washington, D. C, May 6, 1863. 
C. A. Dana, Esq., Smith's Plantation, la. 

General Grant has full and absolute authority to 
enforce his own commands and to remove any person 
who by ignorance in action or any cause interferes 
with or delays his operations. He has the full con- 
fidence of the Government, is expected to enforce his 
authority, and will be firmly and heartily supported, 
but he will be responsible for any failure to exert his 
powers. You may communicate this to him. 

E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 
52 



In Camp and Battle with Grant and his Generals. 

The very evening of the day that we reached Jack- 
son, Grant learned that Lieutenant-General Pember- 
ton had been ordered by General Joe Johnston to come 
out of Vicksburg and attack our rear. Grant immedi- 
ately faced the bulk of his army about to meet the ene- 
my, leaving Sherman in Jackson to tear up the railroads 
and destroy all the public property there that could be 
of use to the Confederates. I remained with Sherman 
to see the work of destruction. I remember now noth- 
ing that I saw except the burning of vast quantities of 
cotton packed in bales, and that I was greatly aston- 
ished to see how slowly it burned. 

On the afternoon of the 15th I joined Grant again 
at his headquarters at Clinton. Early the next morn- 
ing we had definite information about Pemberton. 
He was about ten miles to the west, with twenty-five 
thousand men, as reported, and our advance was almost 
up with him. We at once went forward to the front. 
Here we found Pemberton in a most formidable po- 
sition on the crest of a wooded ridge called Cham- 
pion's Hill, over which the road passed longitudinally. 
About eleven o'clock in the morning of the 16th 
the battle began, and by four in the afternoon it was 
won. 

After the battle I started out on horseback with 
Colonel Rawlins to visit the field. When we reached 
Logan's command we found him greatly excited. He 
declared the day was lost, and that he would soon be 
swept from his position. I contested the point with 
him. " Why, general," I said, " we have gained the 
day." 

53 



Recollections of the Civil W 'ar. 

He could not see it. " Don't you hear the cannon 
over there? " he answered. " They will be down on us 
right away! In an hour I will have twenty thousand 
men to fight." 

I found afterward that this was simply a curious 
idiosyncrasy of Logan's. In the beginning of a fight he 
was one of the bravest men that could be, saw no 
danger, went right on fighting until the battle was over. 
Then, after the battle was won, his mind gained an 
immovable conviction that it was lost. Where we were 
victorious, he thought that we were defeated. I had a 
very interesting conversation with Logan on this day, 
when he attempted to convince me that we had lost the 
battle of Champion's Hill. It was merely an intellectual 
peculiarity. It did not in the least impair his value as a 
soldier or commanding officer. He never made any 
mistake on account of it. 

On leaving Logan, Rawlins and I were joined by 
several officers, and we continued our ride over the 
field. On the hill where the thickest of the fight had 
taken place we stopped, and were looking around at 
the dead and dying men lying all about us, when sud- 
denly a man, perhaps forty-five or fifty years old, who 
had a Confederate uniform on, lifted himself up on his 
elbow, and said: 

" For God's sake, gentlemen, is there a Mason 
among you? " 

" Yes," said Rawlins, " I am a Mason." He got 
off his horse and kneeled by the dying man, who gave 
him some letters out of his pocket. When he came 
back Rawlins had tears on his cheeks. The man, he 

54 



In Camp and Battle with Grant and his Generals. 

told us, wanted him to convey some souvenir — a minia- 
ture or a ring, I do not remember what — to his wife, 
who was in Alabama. Rawlins took the package, and 
some time afterward he succeeded in sending it to the 
woman. 

I remained out late that night conversing with the 
officers who had been in the battle, and think it must 
have been about eleven o'clock when I got to Grant's 
headquarters, where I was to sleep. Two or three 
officers who had been out with me went with me into 
the little cottage which Grant had taken possession of. 
We found a wounded man there, a tall and fine-looking 
man, a Confederate. He stood up suddenly and said: 
" Kill me! Will some one kill me? I am in such an- 
guish that it will be mercy to do it — I have got to die — 
kill me — don't let me suffer! " We sent for a surgeon, 
who examined his case, but said it was hopeless. He 
had been shot through the head, so that it had cut off 
the optic nerve of both eyes. He never could possibly 
see again. Before morning he died. 

I was up at daylight the next day, and off with Grant 
and his staff after the enemy. We rode directly west, 
and overtook Pemberton at the Big Black. He had 
made a stand on the bottom lands at the east head of the 
Big Black bridge. Here he fought in rifle-pits, pro- 
tected by abatis and a difficult bayou. Lawler's brigade, 
of McClernand's corps, charged the left of the Con- 
federate rifle-pits magnificently, taking more prisoners 
than their own numbers. The others fled. Pemberton 
burned his bridge and retreated rapidly into Vicks- 
burg, with only three cannon out of sixty-three with 

55 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

which he had entered upon this short, sharp, and de- 
cisive campaign. 

There was nothing for Grant to do now but build 
bridges and follow. Before morning four bridges had 
been thrown across the Big Black, and by the even- 
ing of that day, the 18th, the army had arrived be- 
hind Vicksburg, which was now its front. In twenty- 
four hours after Grant's arrival the town was invested, 
the bluffs above the town had been seized so that we 
could get water from the Mississippi, and Haynes's Bluff 
up the Yazoo had been abandoned by the Confederates. 
With the Yazoo highlands in our control there was no 
difficulty in establishing a line of supplies with our origi- 
nal base on the Mississippi. On the 20th I was able 
to get off to Mr. Stanton the first dispatch from the 
rear of Vicksburg. In it I said, " Probably the town 
will be carried to-day." 

The prediction was not verified. The assault we 
expected was not made until the morning of the 226.. 
It failed, but without heavy loss. Early in the after- 
noon, however, McClernand, who was on the left of 
our lines, reported that he was in possession of two 
forts of the rebel line, was hard pressed, and in great 
need of re-enforcements. Not doubting that he had 
really succeeded in taking and holding the works he 
pretended to hold, General Grant sent a division to his 
support, and at the same time ordered Sherman and 
McPherson to make new attacks. McClernand's report 
was false, for, although a few of his men had broken 
through in one place, he had not taken a single fort, and 
the result of the second assault was disastrous. We 

56 



In Camp and Battle with Grant and his Generals. 

were repulsed, losing quite heavily, when but for his 
error the total loss of the day would have been incon- 
siderable. 

The failure of the 226. convinced Grant of the 
necessity of a regular siege, and immediately the army 
settled down to that. We were in an incomparable 
position for a siege as regarded the health and com- 
fort of our men. The high wooded hills afforded pure 
air and shade, and the deep ravines abounded in springs 
of excellent water, and if they failed it was easy to bring 
it from the Mississippi. Our line of supplies was beyond 
the reach of the enemy, and there was an abundance of 
fruit all about us. I frequently met soldiers coming into 
camp with buckets full of mulberries, blackberries, and 
red and yellow wild plums. 

The army was deployed at this time in the following 
way: The right of the besieging force was held by Gen- 
eral Sherman, whose forces ran from the river along the 
bluffs around the northeast of the town. Sherman's 
front was at a greater distance from the enemy than that 
of any other corps, and the approach less advantageous, 
but he began his siege works with great energy and 
admirable skill. Everything I saw of Sherman at the 
Vicksburg siege increased my admiration for him. He 
was a very brilliant man and an excellent commander 
of a corps. Sherman's information was great, and he 
was a clever talker. He always liked to have people 
about who could keep up with his conversation; besides, 
he was genial and unaffected. I particularly admired 
his loyalty to Grant. He had criticised the plan of 
campaign frankly in the first place, but had supported 

57 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

every movement with all his energy, and now that we 
were in the rear of Vicksburg he gave loud praise to the 
commander in chief. 

To the left of Sherman lay the Seventeenth Army 
Corps, under Major-General J. B. McPherson. He was 
one of the best officers we had. He was but thirty-two 
years old at the time, and a very handsome, gallant- 
looking man, with rather a dark complexion, dark eyes, 
and a most cordial manner. McPherson was an en- 
gineer officer of fine natural ability and extraordinary 
acquirements, having graduated Number One in his 
class at West Point, and was held in high estimation by 
Grant and his professional brethren. Halleck gave him 
his start in the civil war, and he had been with Grant 
at Donelson and ever since. He was a man without 
any pretensions, and always had a pleasant hand-shake 
for you. 

It is a little remarkable that the three chief figures in 
this great Vicksburg campaign — Grant, Sherman, and 
McPherson — were all born in Ohio. The utmost cor- 
diality and confidence existed between these three men, 
and it always seemed to me that much of the success 
achieved in these marches and battles was owing to this 
very fact. There was no jealousy or bickering, and in 
their unpretending simplicity they were as alike as three 
peas. No country was ever more faithfully, unselfishly 
served than was ours in the Vicksburg campaign by 
these three Ohio officers. 

To McPherson's left was the Thirteenth Army 
Corps, under Major-General John A. McClernand. 
Next to Grant he was the ranking officer in the army. 

58 



In Camp and Battle with Grant and his Generals. 

The approaches on his front were most favorable to us, 
and the enemy's line of works evidently much the weak- 
est there, but he was very inefficient and slow in push- 
ing his siege operations. Grant had resolved on the 
23d to relieve McClernand for his false dispatch of the 
day before stating that he held two of the enemy's 
forts, but he changed his mind, concluding that it would 
be better on the whole to leave him in his command 
till the siege was concluded. From the time that I 
had joined Grant's army at Milliken's Bend and heard 
him criticising Porter, Sherman, and other officers, 
I had been observing McClernand narrowly myself. 
My own judgment of him by this time was that he had 
not the qualities necessary for commander even of a 
regiment. In the first place, he was not a military man; 
he was a politician and a member of Congress. He was 
a man of a good deal of a certain kind of talent, not of a 
high order, but not one of intellectual accomplishments. 
His education was that which a man gets who is in 
Congress five or six years. In short, McClernand was 
merely a smart man, quick, very active-minded, but his 
judgment was not solid, and he looked after himself a 
good deal. Mr. Lincoln also looked out carefully for 
McClernand, because he was an Illinois Democrat, with 
a considerable following among the people. It was a 
great thing to get McClernand into the war in the first 
place, for his natural predisposition, one would have 
supposed, would have been to sympathize with the 
South. As long as he adhered to the war he carried 
his Illinois constituency with him; and chiefly for this 
reason, doubtless, Lincoln made it a point to take 

59 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

special care of him. In doing this the President really 
served the greater good of the cause. But from the 
circumstances of Lincoln's supposed friendship, Mc- 
Clernand had more consequence in the army than he de- 
served. 



60 



CHAPTER V. 

SOME CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS. 

Grant before his great fame — His friend and mentor, General Rawlins 
— James Harrison Wilson — Two semi-official letters to Stanton — 
Character sketches for the information of the President and Sec- 
retary — Mr. Dana's early judgment of soldiers who afterward won 
distinction. 

Living at headquarters as I did throughout the siege 
of Vicksburg, I soon became intimate with General 
Grant, not only knowing every operation while it was 
still but an idea, but studying its execution on the spot. 
Grant was an uncommon fellow — the most modest, the 
most disinterested, and the most honest man I ever 
knew, with a temper that nothing could disturb, and a 
judgment that was judicial in its comprehensiveness and 
wisdom. Not a great man, except morally; not an 
original or brilliant man, but sincere, thoughtful, deep, 
and gifted with courage that never faltered; when the 
time came to risk all, he went in like a simple-hearted, 
unaffected, unpretending hero, whom no ill omens could 
deject and no triumph unduly exalt. A social, friendly 
man, too, fond of a pleasant joke and also ready with 
one; but liking above all a long chat of an evening, and 
ready to sit up with you all night, talking in the cool 
breeze in front of his tent. Not a man of sentimentality, 

61 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

not demonstrative in friendship, but always holding to 
his friends, and just even to the enemies he hated. 

After Grant, I spent more time at Vicksburg with his 
assistant adjutant general, Colonel John A. Rawlins, and 
with Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, than with anybody 
else. Rawlins was one of the most valuable men in 
the army, in my judgment. He had but a limited edu- 
cation, which he had picked up at the neighbourhood 
school and in Galena, 111., near which place he was 
born and where he had worked himself into the law; 
but he had a very able mind, clear, strong, and not sub- 
ject to hysterics. He bossed everything at Grant's 
headquarters. He had very little respect for persons, and 
a rough style of conversation. I have heard him curse 
at Grant when, according to his judgment, the general 
was doing something that he thought he had better not 
do. But he was entirely devoted to his duty, with the 
clearest judgment, and perfectly fearless. Without him 
Grant would not have been the same man. Rawlins 
was essentially a good man, though he was one of the 
most profane men I ever knew; there was no guile in 
him — he was as upright and as genuine a character as I 
ever came across. 

James H. Wilson I had first met at Milliken's Bend, 
when he was serving as chief topographical engineer 
and assistant inspector general of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee. He was a brilliant man intellectually, highly 
educated, and thoroughly companionable. We became 
warm friends at once, and were together a great deal 
throughout the war. Rarely did Wilson go out on a 
specially interesting tour of inspection that he did not 

62 



Some Contemporary Portraits. 

invite me to accompany him, and I never failed, if I 
were at liberty, to accept his invitations. Much of the 
exact information about the condition of the works 
which I was able to send to Mr. Stanton Wilson put in 
my way. 

I have already spoken of McClernand, Sherman, and 
McPherson, Grant's three chief officers, but there were 
many subordinate officers of value in his army, not a 
few of whom became afterward soldiers of distinction. 
At the request of Secretary Stanton, I had begun at 
Vicksburg a series of semi-official letters, in which I 
undertook to give my impressions of the officers in 
Grant's army. These letters were designed to help Mr. 
Lincoln and Mr. Stanton in forming their judgments of 
the men. In order to set the personnel of the command- 
ing force distinctly before the reader, I quote here one 
of these letters, written at Cairo after the siege had 
ended. It has never been published before, and it gives 
my judgment at that time of the subordinate officers in 
the Vicksburg campaign: 

Cairo, III., July 12, 1863. 

Dear Sir: Your dispatch of June 29th, desiring 
me to " continue my sketches," I have to-day seen for 
the first time. It was sent down the river, but had not 
arrived when I left Vicksburg on the 5th instant. 

Let me describe the generals of division and bri- 
gade in Grant's army in the order of the army corps 
to which they are attached, beginning with the Thir- 
teenth. 

The most prominent officer of the Thirteenth Corps, 
next to the commander of the corps, is Brigadier-Gen- 
eral A. P. Hovey. He is a lawyer of Indiana, and from 
forty to forty-five years old. He is ambitious, active, 
nervous, irritable, energetic, clear-headed, quick-witted, 

63 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

and prompt-handed. He works with all his might and 
all his mind; and, unlike most volunteer officers, makes 
it his business to learn the military profession just as if 
he expected to spend his life in it. He distinguished 
himself most honorably at Port Gibson and Champion's 
Hill, and is one of the best officers in this army. He 
is a man whose character will always command respect, 
though he is too anxious about his personal renown 
and his own advancement to be considered a first-rate 
man morally, judged by the high standard of men like 
Grant and Sherman. 

Hovey's principal brigadiers are General McGinnis 
and Colonel Slack. McGinnis is brave enough, but too 
excitable. He lost his balance at Champion's Hill. He 
is not likely ever to be more than a brigadier. Slack is 
a solid, steady man, brave, thorough, and sensible, but 
will never set the river afire. His education is poor, but 
he would make a respectable brigadier general, and, I 
know, hopes to be promoted. 

Next to Hovey is Osterhaus. This general is uni- 
versally well spoken of. He is a pleasant, genial fellow, 
brave and quick, and makes a first-rate report of a re- 
connoissance. There is not another general in this 
army who keeps the commander in chief so well in- 
formed concerning whatever happens at his outposts. 
As a disciplinarian he is not equal to Hovey, but is 
much better than some others. On the battlefield he 
lacks energy and concentrativeness. His brigade com- 
manders are all colonels, and I don't know much of 
them. 

The third division of the Thirteenth Corps is com- 
manded by General A. J. Smith, an old cavalry officer 
of the regular service. He is intrepid to recklessness, 
his head is clear though rather thick, his disposition 
honest and manly, though given to boasting and self- 
exaggeration of a gentle and innocent kind. His divi- 
sion is well cared for, but is rather famous for slow 
instead of rapid marching. McClernand, however, dis- 
liked him, and kept him in the rear throughout the late 

64 



Some Contemporary Portraits. 

campaign. He is a good officer to command a division 
in an army corps, but should not be intrusted with any 
important independent command. 

Smith's principal brigadier is General Burbridge, 
whom I judge to be a mediocre officer, brave, rather 
pretentious, a good fellow, not destined to greatness. 

The fourth division in the Thirteenth Corps is Gen- 
eral Carr's. He has really been sick thoughout the 
campaign, and had leave to go home several weeks 
since, but stuck it out till the surrender. This may 
account for a critical, hang-back disposition which he 
has several times exhibited. He is a man of more culti- 
vation, intelligence, and thought than his colleagues 
generally. The discipline in his camps I have thought 
to be poor and careless. He is brave enough, but lacks 
energy and initiative. 

Carr's brigadiers comprise General M. K. Lawler 
and General Lee, of Kansas. Lawler weighs two hun- 
dred and fifty pounds, is a Roman Catholic, and was a 
Douglas Democrat, belongs in Shawneetown, 111., and 
served in the Mexican War. He is as brave as a lion, 
and has about as much brains; but his purpose is al- 
ways honest, and his sense is always good. He is a 
good disciplinarian and a first-rate soldier. He once 
hung a man of his regiment for murdering a comrade, 
without reporting the case to his commanding general 
either before or after the hanging, but there was no 
doubt the man deserved his fate. Grant has two or 
three times gently reprimanded him for indiscretions, 
but is pretty sure to go and thank him after a battle. 
Carr's third brigadier I don't know. 

In the Fifteenth Corps there are two major generals 
who command divisions — namely, Steele and Blair — 
and one brigadier, Tuttle. Steele has also been sick 
through the campaign, but has kept constantly at his 
post. He is a gentlemanly, pleasant fellow. . . . Sher- 
man has a high opinion of his capacity, and every one 
says that he handles troops with great coolness and 
skill in battle. To me his mind seems to work in a 

6 65 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

desultory way, like the mind of a captain of infantry 
long habituated to garrison duty at a frontier post. He 
takes things in bits, like a gossiping companion, and 
never comprehensively and strongly, like a man of clear 
brain and a ruling purpose. But on the whole I con- 
sider him one of the best division generals in this army, 
yet you can not rely on him to make a logical state- 
ment, or to exercise any independent command. 

Of Steele's brigadiers, Colonel Woods eminently de- 
serves promotion. A Hercules in form, in energy, and 
in pertinacity, he is both safe and sure. Colonel Manter, 
of Missouri, is a respectable officer. General Thayer is 
a fair but not first-rate officer. 

Frank Blair is about the same as an officer that he 
is as a politician. He is intelligent, prompt, determined, 
rather inclining to disorder, a poor disciplinarian, but a 
brave fighter. I judge that he will soon leave the army, 
and that he prefers his seat in Congress to his commis- 
sion. 

In Frank Blair's division there are two brigadier 
generals, Ewing and Lightburne. Ewing seems to pos- 
sess many of the qualities of his father, whom you know 
better than I do, I suppose. Lightburne has not served 
long with this army, and I have had no opportunity 
of learning his measure. Placed in a command during 
the siege where General Sherman himself directed what 
was to be done, he has had little to do. He seems to 
belong to the heavy rather than the rapid department of 
the forces. 

Colonel Giles Smith is one of the very best briga- 
diers in Sherman's corps, perhaps the best of all next to 
Colonel Woods. He only requires the chance to de- 
velop into an officer of uncommon power and useful- 
ness. There are plenty of men with generals' commis- 
sions who in all military respects are not fit to tie his 
shoes. 

Of General Tuttle, who commands Sherman's third 
division, I have already spoken, and need not here re- 
peat it. Bravery and zeal constitute his only qualifica- 

66 



Some Contemporary Portraits. 

tions for command. His principal brigadier is General 
Mower, a brilliant officer, but not of large mental cali- 
bre. Colonel Wood, who commands another of his 
brigades, is greatly esteemed by General Grant, but I 
do not know him; neither do I know the commander of 
his third brigade. 

Three divisions of the Sixteenth Corps have been 
serving in Grant's army for some time past. They are 
all commanded by brigadier generals, and the brigades 
by colonels. The first of these divisions to arrive before 
Vicksburg was Lauman's. This general got his promo- 
tion by bravery on the field and Iowa political influence. 
He is totally unfit to command — a very good man but a 
very poor general. His brigade commanders are none 
of them above mediocrity. The next division of the 
Sixteenth Corps to join the Vicksburg army was Gen- 
eral Kimball's. He is not so bad a commander as Lau- 
man, but he is bad enough; brave, of course, but lacking 
the military instinct and the genius of generalship. I 
don't know any of his brigade commanders. The third 
division of the Sixteenth Corps now near Vicksburg is 
that of General W. S. Smith. He is one of the best 
officers in that army. A rigid disciplinarian, his division 
is always ready and always safe. A man of brains, a 
hard worker, unpretending, quick, suggestive, he may 
also be a little crotchety, for such is his reputation; but 
I judge that he only needs the opportunity to render 
great services. What his brigade commanders are 
worth I can't say, but I am sure they have a first-rate 
schoolmaster in him. 

I now come to the Seventeenth Corps and to its 
most prominent division general, Logan. This is a 
man of remarkable qualities and peculiar character. 
Heroic and brilliant, he is sometimes unsteady. Inspir- 
ing his men with his own enthusiasm on the field of 
battle, he is splendid in all its crash and commotion, but 
before it begins he is doubtful of the result, and after it is 
over he is fearful we may yet be beaten. A man of 
instinct and not of reflection, his judgments are often 

67 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

absurd, but his extemporaneous opinions are very apt 
to be right. Deficient in education, he is full of gener- 
ous attachments and sincere animosities. On the whole, 
few can serve the cause of the country more effectively 
than he, and none serve it more faithfully. 

Logan's oldest brigade commander is General John 
D. Stevenson, of Missouri. He is a person of much 
talent, but a grumbler. He was one of the oldest 
colonels in the volunteer service, but because he had 
always been an antislavery man all the others were 
promoted before him. This is still one of his grounds 
for discontent, and in addition younger brigadiers have 
been put before him since. Thus the world will not 
go to suit him. He has his own notions, too, of what 
should be done on the field of battle, and General Mc- 
Pherson has twice during this campaign had to rebuke 
him very severely for his failure to come to time on 
critical occasions. 

Logan's second brigade is commanded by General 
Leggett, of Ohio. This officer has distinguished him- 
self during the siege, and will be likely to distinguish 
himself hereafter. He possesses a clear head, an equable 
temper, and great propulsive power over his men. He 
is also a hard worker, and whatever he touches goes 
easily. The third brigade of this division has for a short 
time been commanded by Colonel Force. I only know 
that Logan, McPherson, and Grant all think well of 
him. 

Next in rank among McPherson's division generals 
is McArthur. He has been in the reserve throughout 
the campaign, and has had little opportunity of proving 
his mettle. He is a shrewd, steady Scotchman, trust- 
worthy rather than brilliant, good at hard knocks, but 
not a great commander. Two of his brigadiers, how- 
ever, have gained very honorable distinction in this 
campaign, namely Crocker, who commanded Quin- 
by's division at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, and 
Champion's Hill, and Ransom. Crocker was sick 
throughout, and, as soon as Quinby returned to his com- 

68 



Some Contemporary Portraits. 

mand, had to go away, and it is feared may never be 
able to come back. He is an officer of great promise 
and remarkable power. Ransom has commanded on 
McPherson's right during the siege, and has exceeded 
every other brigadier in the zeal, intelligence, and 
efficiency with which his siege works were constructed 
and pushed forward. At the time of the surrender his 
trenches were so well completed that the engineers 
agreed that they offered the best opportunity in the 
whole of our lines for the advance of storming columns. 
Captain Comstock told me that ten thousand men 
could there be marched under cover up to the very 
lines of the enemy. In the assault of May 22d, Ransom 
was equally conspicuous for the bravery with which he 
exposed himself. No young man in all this army has 
more future than he. 

The third brigade of McArthur's division, that of 
General Reid, has been detached during the campaign 
at Lake Providence and elsewhere, and I have not been 
able to make General R.'s acquaintance. 

The third division of the Seventeenth Corps was 
commanded during the first of the siege by General 
Quinby. This officer was also sick, and I dare say did 
not do justice to himself. A good commander of a 
division he is not, though he is a most excellent and 
estimable man, and seemed to be regarded by the sol- 
diers with much affection. But he lacks order, system, 
command, and is the very opposite of his successor, 
General John E. Smith, who, with much less intellect 
than Quinby, has a great deal better sense, with a firm- 
ness of character, a steadiness of hand, and a freedom 
from personal irritability and jealousy which must soon 
produce the happiest effect upon the division. Smith 
combines with these natural qualities of a soldier and 
commander a conscientious devotion not merely to the 
doing but also to the learning of his duty, which renders 
him a better and better general every day. He is also fit 
to be intrusted with any independent command where 
judgment and discretion are as necessary as courage 

69 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

and activity, for in him all these qualities seem to be 
happily blended and balanced. 

Of General Matthias, who commands the brigade 
in this division so long and so gallantly commanded 
by the late Colonel Boomer, I hear the best accounts, 
but do not know him personally. The medical in- 
spector tells me that no camps in the lines are kept in 
so good condition as his; and General Sherman, under 
whom he lately served, speaks of him as a very valuable 
officer. The second brigade is commanded by Colonel 
Sanborn, a steady, mediocre sort of man; the third by 
Colonel Holmes, whom I don't know personally, but 
who made a noble fight at Champion's Hill, and saved 
our center there from being broken. 

General Herron's division is the newest addition to 
the forces under Grant, except the Ninth Corps, of 
which I know nothing except that its discipline and 
organization exceed those of the Western troops. Her- 
ron is a driving, energetic sort of young fellow, not 
deficient either in self-esteem or in common sense, and, 
as I judge, hardly destined to distinctions higher than 
those he has already acquired. Of his two brigadiers, 
Vandever has not proved himself of much account dur- 
ing the siege; Orme I have seen, but do not know. 
Herron has shown a great deal more both of capacity 
and force than either of them. But he has not the first 
great requisite of a soldier, obedience to orders, and 
believes too much in doing things his own way. Thus, 
for ten days after he had taken his position he disre- 
garded the order properly to picket the bottom between 
the bluff and the river on his left. He had made up 
his own mind that nobody could get out of the town by 
that way, and accordingly neglected to have the place 
thoroughly examined in order to render the matter 
clear and certain. Presently Grant discovered that men 
from the town were making their escape through that 
bottom, and then a more peremptory command to Her- 
ron set the matter right by the establishment of the 
necessary pickets. 

70 



Some Contemporary Portraits. 

I must not omit a general who formerly commanded 
a brigade in Logan's division, and has for some time 
been detached to a separate command at Milliken's 
Bend. I mean General Dennis. He is a hard-headed, 
hard-working, conscientious man, who never knows 
when he is beaten, and consequently is very hard to 
beat. He is not brilliant, but safe, sound, and trust- 
worthy. His predecessor in that command, General 
Sullivan, has for some time been at Grant's headquar- 
ters, doing nothing with more energy and effect than he 
would be likely to show in any other line of duty. He 
is a gentlemanly fellow, intelligent, a charming com- 
panion, but heavy, jovial, and lazy. 

I might write another letter on the staff officers and 
staff organization of Grant's army, should you desire it. 
Yours faithfully, C. A. Dana. 

Mr. Stanton. 

The day after sending to Mr. Stanton this letter on 
the generals of divisions and of brigades in the army 
which besieged Vicksburg, I wrote him another on the 
staff officers of the various corps. Like its predecessor, 
this letter has never appeared in the records of the war: 

Cairo, III., July ij, 1863. 

Dear Sir: In my letter of yesterday I accidentally 
omitted to notice General C. C. Washburn among the 
generals of division in Grant's army. He is now in 
command of two of the divisions detached from the 
Sixteenth Army Corps — namely, that of Kimball and 
that of W. S. Smith — and, as I happen to know, is 
anxious to be put in command of an army corps, for 
which purpose it has been suggested that a new corps 
might be created out of these two divisions, with the 
addition of that of Lauman, also detached from the Six- 
teenth, or that of Herron. But I understand from Gen- 
eral Grant that he is not favorable to any such arrange- 
ment. Washburn being one of the very youngest in 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

rank of his major generals, he intends to put him in 
command of a single division as soon as possible, in 
order that he may prove his fitness for higher com- 
mands by actual service, and give no occasion for older 
soldiers to complain that he is promoted without regard 
to his merits. 

I know Washburn very well, both as a politician and 
a military man, and I say frankly that he has better 
qualities for the latter than for the former function. He 
is brave, steady, respectable; receives suggestions and 
weighs them carefully; is not above being advised, but 
acts with independence nevertheless. His judgment is 
good, and his vigilance sufficient. I have not seen him 
in battle, however, and can not say how far he holds 
his mind there. I don't find in him, I am sorry to say, 
that effort to learn the military art which every com- 
mander ought to exhibit, no matter whether he has re- 
ceived a military education or not. Washburn's whole 
soul is not put into the business of arms, and for me 
that is an unpardonable defect. But he is a good man, 
and above the average of our generals, at least of those 
in Grant's command. 

I now come to the staff organization and staff 
officers of this army, beginning, of course, with those 
connected with the head of the department. Grant's 
staff is a curious mixture of good, bad, and indifferent. 
As he is neither an organizer nor a disciplinarian him- 
self, his staff is naturally a mosaic of accidental elements 
and family friends. It contains four working men, two 
who are able to accomplish their duties without much 
work, and several who either don't think of work, or 
who accomplish nothing no matter what they under- 
take. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Rawlins, Grant's assistant ad- 
jutant general, is a very industrious, conscientious man, 
who never loses a moment, and never gives himself any 
indulgence except swearing and scolding. He is a 
lawyer by profession, a townsman of Grant's, and has a 
great influence over him, especially because he watches 

72 



Some Contemporary Portraits. 

him day and night, and whenever he commits the folly 
of tasting liquor hastens to remind him that at the be- 
ginning of the war he gave him [Rawlins] his word of 
honor not to touch a drop as long as it lasted. Grant 
thinks Rawlins a first-rate adjutant, but I think this is a 
mistake. He is too slow, and can't write the English 
language correctly without a great deal of careful con- 
sideration. Indeed, illiterateness is a general charac- 
teristic of Grant's staff, and in fact of Grant's generals 
and regimental officers of all ranks. 

Major Bowers, judge-advocate of Grant's staff, is 
an excellent man, and always finds work to do. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Wilson, inspector general, is a person 
of similar disposition. He is a captain of engineers in 
the regular army, and has rendered valuable services in 
that capacity. The fortifications of Haynes's Bluff were 
designed by him and executed under his direction. His 
leading idea is the idea of duty, and he applies it vig- 
orously and often impatiently to others. In conse- 
quence he is unpopular among all who like to live 
with little work. But he has remarkable talents and 
uncommon executive power, and will be heard from 
hereafter. 

The quartermaster's department is under charge of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Bingham, who is one of those I 
spoke of as accomplishing much with little work. He 
is an invalid almost, and I have never seen him when he 
appeared to be perfectly well; but he is a man of first-rate 
abilities and solid character, and, barring physical weak- 
ness, up to even greater responsibilities than those he 
now bears. 

The chief commissary, Lieutenant-Colonel Mac- 
feely, is a jolly, agreeable fellow, who never seems 
to be at work, but I have heard no complaints of de- 
ficiencies in his department. On the contrary, it seems 
to be one of the most efficacious parts of this great 
machine. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Kent, provost-marshal general, 
is a very industrious and sensible man, a great improve- 

73 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

ment on his predecessor, Colonel Hillyer, who was a 
family and personal friend of Grant's. 

There are two aides-de-camp with the rank of 

colonel, namely, Colonel and Colonel , both 

personal friends of Grant's. is a worthless, 

whisky-drinking, useless fellow. is decent and 

gentlemanly, but neither of them is worth his salt so 
far as service to the Government goes. Indeed, in all 
my observation, I have never discovered the use of 
Grant's aides-de-camp at all. On the battlefield he 
sometimes sends orders by them, but everywhere else 
they are idle loafers. I suppose the army would be 
better off if they were all suppressed, especially the 
colonels. 

Grant has three aides with the rank of captain. Cap- 
tain is a relative of Mrs. Grant. He has been a 

stage driver, and violates English grammar at every 
phrase. He is of some use, for he attends to the mails. 

Captain is an elegant young officer of the regular 

cavalry. He rides after the general when he rides out; 
the rest of the time he does nothing at all. Captain 
Badeau, wounded at Port Hudson since he was at- 
tached to Grant's staff, has not yet reported. 

I must not omit the general medical staff of this 
army. It is in bad order. Its head, Dr. Mills, is im- 
practicable, earnest, quarrelsome. He was relieved sev- 
eral weeks since, but Grant likes him, and kept him on 
till the fall of Vicksburg. In this he was right, no doubt, 
for a change during the siege would have been trouble- 
some. The change, I presume, will now be made. It 
must be for the better. 

The office of chief of artillery on the general staff 
I had forgotten, as well as that of chief engineer. The 
former is occupied by Lieutenant-Colonel Duff, of the 
Second Illinois Artillery. He is unequal to the position, 
not only because he is disqualified by sickness, but be- 
cause he does not sufficiently understand the manage- 
ment of artillery. The siege suffered greatly from his 
incompetence. General Grant knows, of course, that he 

74 



Some Contemporary Portraits. 

is not the right person; but it is one of his weaknesses 
that he is unwilling to hurt the feelings of a friend, and 
so he keeps him on. 

The chief engineer, Captain Comstock, is an officer 
of great merit. He has, too, what his predecessor, Cap- 
tain Prime, lacked, a talent for organization. His acces- 
sion to the army will be the source of much improve- 
ment. 

If General Grant had about him a staff of thor- 
oughly competent men, disciplinarians and workers, the 
efficiency and righting quality of his army would soon 
be much increased. As it is, things go too much by 
hazard and by spasms; or, when the pinch comes, Grant 
forces through, by his own energy and main strength, 
what proper organization and proper staff officers 
would have done already. 

The staff of the Thirteenth Corps was formed by 
General McClernand. The acting adjutant general, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Scates, is a man of about fifty-five 
or sixty years old; he was a judge in Illinois, and left an 
honored and influential social position to serve in the 
army. General Ord speaks in high terms of him as an 

officer. The chief of artillery, Colonel , is an ass. 

The chief quartermaster, Lieutenant-Colonel , 

General McClernand's father-in-law, lately resigned his 
commission. He was incompetent. . . . His successor 
has not yet been appointed. The chief commissary, 

Lieutenant-Colonel , is a fussy fellow, who with 

much show accomplishes but little. General McCler- 
nand's aides went away with him or are absent on 
leave. Not a man of them is worth having. The en- 
gineer on his staff, Lieutenant Hains, is an industrious 
and useful officer. The medical director, Dr. Ham- 
mond, had just been appointed. 

In the Fifteenth Corps staff all have to be working 
men, for Sherman tolerates no idlers and finds some- 
thing for everybody to do. If an officer proves unfit 
for his position, he shifts him to some other place. 
Thus his adjutant, Lieutenant-Colonel Hammond, a 

75 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

restless Kentuckian, kept everything in a row as long as 
he remained in that office. Sherman has accordingly 
made him inspector general, and during the last two 
months has kept him constantly employed on scouting 
parties. In his place as adjutant is Captain Sawyer, a 
quiet, industrious, efficient person. The chief of artil- 
lery, Major Taylor, directed by Sherman's omnipresent 
eye and quick judgment, is an officer of great value, 
though under another general he might not be worth 
so much. The chief engineer, Captain Pitzman, 
wounded about July 15th, is a man of merit, and his 
departure was a great loss to the regular ranks. General 
Sherman has three aides-de-camp, Captain McCoy, 
Captain Dayton, and Lieutenant Hill, and, as I have 
said, neither of them holds a sinecure office. His medi- 
cal director, Dr. McMillan, is a good physician, I be- 
lieve; he has been in a constant contention with Dr. 
Mills. The quartermaster, Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. 
Smith, is a most efficient officer; he has been doing duty 
as commissary also. 

On the whole, General Sherman has a very small 
and very efficient staff; but the efficiency comes mainly 
from him. What a splendid soldier he is! 

The staff of the Seventeenth Army Corps is the 
most complete, the most numerous, and in some re- 
spects the most serviceable in this army. 

The adjutant general, Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, is 
a person of uncommon quickness, is always at work, and 
keeps everything in his department in first-rate order. 
The inspector general, Lieutenant-Colonel Strong, does 
his duties with promptness and thoroughness; his re- 
ports are models. The chief of artillery, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Powell, thoroughly understands his business, 
and attends to it diligently. The provost-marshal gen- 
eral, Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, is a judicious and in- 
dustrious man. Both the quartermaster and commis- 
sary are new men, captains, and I do not know them, 
but McPherson speaks highly of them. The medical 
director, Dr. Boucher, has the reputation of keeping his 

76 



Some Contemporary Portraits. 

hospitals in better order and making his reports more 
promptly and satisfactorily than any other medical 
officer in this army. General McPherson has four aides- 
de-camp: Captain Steele, Captain Gile, Lieutenant 
Knox, and Lieutenant Vernay. The last of these is 
the best, and Captain Steele is next to him. The en- 
gineer officer, Captain Hickenlooper, is a laborious 
man, quick, watchful, but not of great capacity. The 
picket officer, Major Willard,whom I accidentally name 
last, is a person of unusual merit. 

In the staffs of the division and brigadier generals 
I do not now recall any officer of extraordinary capacity. 
There may be such, but I have not made their acquaint- 
ance. On the other hand, I have made the acquaint- 
ance of some who seemed quite unfit for their places. 
I must not omit, however, to speak here of Captain 
Tresilian, engineer on the staff of Major-General 
Logan. His general services during the siege were not 
conspicuous, but he deserves great credit for construct- 
ing the wooden mortars which General McPherson 
used near its close with most remarkable effect. Both 
the idea and the work were Tresilian's. 

Very possibly you may not wish to go through this 
mass of details respecting so many officers of inferior 
grades, upon whose claims you may never be called to 
pass judgment. But if you care to read them here they 
are. I remain, dear sir, 

Yours very faithfully, C. A. Dana. 

Mr. Stanton. 



77 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG. 

Life behind Vicksburg — Grant's efforts to procure reinforcements — 
The fruitless appeal to General Banks — Mr. Stanton responds to 
Mr. Dana's representations — A steamboat trip with Grant — Watch- 
ing Joe Johnston — Visits to Sherman and Admiral Porter — The 
negro troops win glory — Progress and incidents of the siege — 
Vicksburg wakes up — McClernand's removal. 

We had not been many days in the rear of Vicks- 
burg before we settled into regular habits. The men 
were detailed in reliefs for work in the trenches, and be- 
ing relieved at fixed hours everybody seemed to lead a 
systematic life. 

My chief duty throughout the siege was a daily 
round through the trenches, generally with the corps 
commander or some one of his staff. As the lines of 
investment were six or seven miles long, it occupied the 
greater part of my day; sometimes I made a portion 
of my tour of inspection in the night. One night in 
riding through the trenches I must have passed twenty 
thousand men asleep on their guns. I still can see the 
grotesque positions into which they had curled them- 
selves. The trenches were so protected that there was 
no danger in riding through them. It was not so safe 
to venture on the hills overlooking Vicksburg. I went 
on foot and alone one day to the top of a hill, and was 

78 



^he Siege of Vichburg. 

looking at the town, when I suddenly heard something 
go whizz, whizz, by my ear. " What in the world is 
that? " I asked myself. The place was so desolate that 
it was an instant before I could believe that these were 
bullets intended for me. When I did realize it, I imme- 
diately started to lie down. Then came the question, 
which was the best way to lie down. If I lay at right 
angles to the enemy's line the bullets from the right and 
left might strike me; if I lay parallel to it then those 
directly from the front might hit me. So I concluded it 
made no difference which way I lay. After remaining 
quiet for a time the bullets ceased, and I left the hill-top. 
I was more cautious in the future in venturing beyond 
cover. 

Through the entire siege I lived in General Grant's 
headquarters, which were on a high bluff northeast of 
Sherman's extreme left. I had a tent to myself, and 
on the whole was very comfortable. We never lacked 
an abundance of provisions. There was good water, 
enough even for the bath, and we suffered very little 
from excessive heat. The only serious annoyance was 
the cannonade from our whole line, which from the 
first of June went on steadily by night as well as by day. 
The following bit from a letter I wrote on June 2d, to 
my little daughter, tells something of my situation: 

It is real summer weather here, and, after coming 
in at noon to-day from my usual ride through the 
trenches, I was very glad to get a cold bath in my tent 
before dinner. I like living in tents very well, especially 
if you ride on horseback all day. Every night I sleep 
with one side of the tent wide open and the walls put 

79 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

up all around to get plenty of air. Sometimes I wake 
up in the night and think it is raining, the wind roars 
so in the tops of the great oak forest on the hillside 
where we are encamped, and I think it is thundering 
till I look out and see the golden moonlight in all its 
glory, and listen again and know that it is only the 
thunder of General Sherman's great guns, that neither 
rest nor let others rest by night or by day. 

We were no sooner in position behind Vicksburg 
than Grant saw that he must have reinforcements. Joe 
Johnston was hovering near, working with energy to 
collect forces sufficient to warrant an attempt to relieve 
Vicksburg. The Confederates were also known to be 
reorganizing at Jackson. Johnston eventually gathered 
an army behind Grant of about twenty-five thousand 
men. 

Under these threatening circumstances it was neces- 
sary to keep a certain number of troops in our rear, 
more than Grant could well spare from the siege, and 
he therefore made every effort to secure reinforcements. 
He ordered down from Tennessee, and elsewhere in his 
own department, all available forces. He also sent to 
General Banks, who was then besieging Port Hudson, 
a request to bring his forces up as promptly as prac- 
ticable, and assuring him that he (Grant) would gladly 
serve under him as his senior in rank, or simply co- 
operate with him for the benefit of the common cause, 
if Banks preferred that arrangement. To Halleck, on 
May 29th, he telegraphed: " If Banks does not come to 
my assistance I must be reinforced from elsewhere. I 
will avoid a surprise, and do the best I can with the 
means at hand." This was about the extent of Grant's 

80 



The Siege of Vichburg. 

personal appeals to his superiors for additional forces. 
No doubt, however, he left a good deal to my repre- 
sentations. 

As no reply came from Banks, I started myself on 
the 30th for Port Hudson at Grant's desire, to urge 
that the reinforcements be furnished. 

The route used for getting out from the rear of 
Vicksburg at that time was through the Chickasaw 
Bayou into the Yazoo and thence into the Mississippi. 
From the mouth of the Yazoo I crossed the Mississippi 
to Young's Point, and from there went overland across 
the peninsula to get a gunboat at a point south of 
Vicksburg. As we were going down the river we met 
a steamer just above Grand Gulf bearing one of the 
previous messengers whom Grant had sent to Banks. 
He was bringing word that Banks could send no forces; 
on the other hand, he asked reinforcements from Grant 
to aid in his siege of Port Hudson, which he had closely 
invested. This news, of course, made my trip unneces- 
sary, and I returned at once to headquarters, having 
been gone not over twenty-four hours. 

As soon as this news came from Banks, I sent an 
urgent appeal to Mr. Stanton to hurry reinforcements 
sufficient to make success beyond all peradventure. 
The Government was not slow to appreciate Grant's 
needs or the great opportunity he had created. Early 
in June I received the following dispatch from Mr. 
Stanton: 

War Department, June 5, 1863. 

Your telegrams up to the 30th have been received. 
Everything in the power of this Government will be 
7 8l 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

put forth to aid General Grant. The emergency is not 
underrated here. Your telegrams are a great obliga- 
tion, and are looked for with deep interest. I can not 
thank you as much as I feel for the service you are now 
rendering. You have been appointed an assistant ad- 
jutant general, with rank of major, with liberty to re- 
port to General Grant if he needs you. The appoint- 
ment may be a protection to you. I shall expect daily 
reports if possible. Edwin M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War. 

C. A. Dana, Esq., 
Grant's Headquarters near Vicksburg. 

My appointment as assistant adjutant general was 
Stanton's own idea. He was by nature a very anxious 
man. When he perceived from my dispatches that I 
was going every day on expeditions into dangerous ter- 
ritory, he became alarmed lest I might be caught by the 
Confederates; for as I was a private citizen it would 
have been difficult to exchange me. If I were in the 
regular volunteer service as an assistant adjutant gen- 
eral, however, there would be no trouble about an ex- 
change, hence my appointment. 

The chief variations from my business of watching 
the siege behind Vicksburg were these trips I made to 
inspect the operations against the enemy, who was now 
trying to shut us in from the rear beyond the Big Black. 
His heaviest force was to the northeast. On June 6th 
the reports from Satartia, our advance up the Yazoo, 
were so unsatisfactory that Grant decided to examine 
the situation there himself. That morning he said to 
me at breakfast: 

" Mr. Dana, I am going to Satartia to-day; would 
you like to go along? " 

82 



The Siege of Vichburg. 

I said I would, and we were soon on horseback, 
riding with a cavalry guard to Haynes's Bluff, where we 
took a small steamer reserved for Grant's use and carry-- 
ing his flag. Grant was ill and went to bed soon after 
he started. We had gone up the river to within two 
miles of Satartia, when we met two gunboats coming 
down. Seeing the general's flag, the officers in charge 
of the gunboats came aboard our steamer and asked 
where the general was going. I told them to Satartia. 

"Why," said they, "it will not be safe. Kimball 
[our advance was under the charge of Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Nathan Kimball, Third Division, Sixteenth Army 
Corps] has retreated from there, and is sending all his 
supplies to Haynes's Bluff. The enemy is probably in 
the town now." 

I told them Grant was sick and asleep, and that I 
did not want to waken him. They insisted that it was 
unsafe to go on, and that I would better call the gen- 
eral. Finally I did so, but he was too sick to decide. 

" I will leave it with you," he said. I immediately 
said we would go back to Haynes's Bluff, which we did. 

The next morning Grant came out to breakfast fresh 
as a rose, clean shirt and all, quite himself. " Well, Mr. 
Dana," he said, " I suppose we are at Satartia now." 

" No, general," I said, " we are at Haynes's Bluff." 
And I told him what had happened. 

He did not complain, but as he was short of officers 
at that point he asked me to go with a party of cavalry 
toward Mechanicsburg to find if it were true, as re- 
ported, that Joe Johnston was advancing from Canton 
to the Big Black. We had a hard ride, not getting back 

83 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

to Vicksburg until the morning of the eighth. The 
country was like all the rest around Vicksburg, broken, 
wooded, unpopulous, with bad roads and few streams. 
It still had many cattle, but the corn was pretty thor- 
oughly cleared out. We found that Johnston had not 
moved his main force as rumored, and that he could not 
move it without bringing all his supplies with him. 

Throughout the siege an attack from Johnston con- 
tinued to threaten Grant and to keep a part of our army 
busy. Almost every one of my dispatches to Mr. Stan- 
ton contained rumors of the movements of the Con- 
federates, and the information was so uncertain that 
often what I reported one day had to be contradicted 
the next. About the 15th of June the movements of 
the enemy were so threatening that Grant issued an 
order extending Sherman's command so as to include 
Haynes's Bluff, and to send there the two divisions of 
the Ninth Corps under General Parke. These troops 
had just arrived from Kentucky, and Grant had intended 
to place them on the extreme left of our besieging line. 

Although our spies brought in daily reports of forces 
of the enemy at different points between Yazoo City 
and Jackson, Johnston's plan did not develop oppor- 
tunity until the 22d, when he was said to be crossing 
the Big Black north of Bridgeport. Sherman imme- 
diately started to meet him with about thirty thou- 
sand troops, including cavalry. Five brigades more 
were held in readiness to reinforce him if necessary. 
The country was scoured by Sherman in efforts to beat 
Johnston, but no trace of an enemy was found. It was, 
however, ascertained that he had not advanced, but was 

84 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 

still near Canton. As there was no design to attack 
Johnston until Vicksburg was laid low, Sherman made 
his way to Bear Creek, northwest of Canton, where he 
could watch the Confederates, and there went into 
camp. 

I went up there several times to visit him, and always 
came away enthusiastic over his qualities as a soldier. 
His amazing activity and vigilance pervaded his entire 
force. The country where he had encamped was ex- 
ceedingly favorable for defense. He had occupied the 
commanding points, opened rifle-pits wherever they 
would add to his advantage, obstructed the cross-roads 
and most of the direct roads also, and ascertained every 
point where the Big Black could be forded between the 
line of Benton on the north and the line of railroads 
on the south. By his rapid movements, also, and by 
widely deploying on all the ridges and open headlands, 
Sherman produced the impression that his forces were 
ten times as numerous as they really were. Sherman 
remained in his camp on Bear Creek through the rest of 
the siege, in order to prevent any possible attack by Joe 
Johnston, the reports about whose movements con- 
tinued to be contradictory and uncertain. 

Another variation in my Vicksburg life was visiting 
Admiral Porter, who commanded the fleet which 
hemmed in the city on the river-side. Porter was a very 
active, courageous, fresh-minded man, and an experi- 
enced naval officer, and I enjoyed the visits I made to 
his fleet. His boats were pretty well scattered, for the 
Confederates west of the Mississippi were pressing in, 
and unless watched might manage to cross somewhere. 

85 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

Seven of the gunboats were south of Vicksburg, one at 
Haynes's Bluff, one was at Chickasaw Bayou, one at 
Young's Point, one at Milliken's Bend, one at Lake 
Providence, one at Greenell, one at Island Sixty-five, 
two were at White River, and so on, and several were 
always in motion. They guarded the river so com- 
pletely that no hostile movement from the west ever 
succeeded, or was likely to do so. 

The most serious attack from the west during the 
siege was that on June 7th, when a force of some two 
thousand Confederates engaged about a thousand 
negro troops defending Milliken's Bend. This engage- 
ment at Milliken's Bend became famous from the con- 
duct of the colored troops. General E. S. Dennis, who 
saw the battle, told me that it was the hardest fought 
engagement he had ever seen. It was fought mainly 
hand to hand. After it was over many men were found 
dead with bayonet stabs, and others with their skulls 
broken open by butts of muskets. " It is impossible," 
said General Dennis, " for men to show greater gal- 
lantry than the negro troops in that fight." 

The bravery of the blacks in the battle at Milliken's 
Bend completely revolutionized the sentiment of the 
army with regard to the employment of negro troops. 
I heard prominent officers who formerly in private had 
sneered at the idea of the negroes fighting express 
themselves after that as heartily in favor of it. Among 
the Confederates, however, the feeling was very dif- 
ferent. All the reports which came to us showed that 
both citizens and soldiers on the Confederate side mani- 
fested great dismay at the idea of our arming negroes. 

86 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 

They said that such a policy was certain to be followed 
by insurrection with all its horrors. 

Although the presence of Joe Johnston on the east, 
and the rumors of invasion by Kirby Smith from the 
west, compelled constant attention, the real work be- 
hind Vicksburg was always that of the siege. No 
amount of outside alarm loosened Grant's hold on the 
rebel stronghold. The siege went on steadily and 
effectively. By June ioth the expected reinforcements 
began to report. Grant soon had eighty-five thousand 
men around Vicksburg, and Pemberton's last hope was 
gone. The first troops to arrive were eight regiments 
under General Herron. They came from Missouri, 
down the Mississippi to Young's Point, where they were 
debarked and marched across the peninsula, care being 
taken, of course, that the Confederate garrison at Vicks- 
burg should see the whole march. The troops were 
then ferried across the Mississippi, and took a position 
south of Vicksburg between Lauman's troops and the 
Mississippi River, completely closing the lines, and thus 
finally rendering egress and ingress absolutely impos- 
sible. Herron took this position on June 13th. He 
went to work with so much energy that on the night 
of the 15th he was able to throw forward his lines on 
his left, making an advance of five hundred yards, and 
bringing his artillery and rifle-pits within two or three 
hundred yards of the enemy's lines. 

Herron was a first-rate officer, and the only consum- 
mate dandy I ever saw in the army. He was always 
handsomely dressed; I believe he never went out with- 
out patent-leather boots on, and you would see him in 

87 



Recollections of the Civil JVar, 

the middle of a battle — well, I can not say exactly that 
he went into battle with a lace pocket-handkerchief, but 
at all events he always displayed a clean white one. But 
these little vanities appeared not to detract from his 
usefulness. Herron had already proved his ability and 
fighting qualities at the battle of Prairie Grove, Decem- 
ber 7, 1862. 

Just as our reinforcements arrived we began to re- 
ceive encouraging reports from within Vicksburg. De- 
serters said that the garrison was worn out and hungry; 
besides, the defense had for several days been conducted 
with extraordinary feebleness, which Grant thought was 
due to the deficiency of ammunition or to exhaustion 
and depression in the garrison, or to their retirement 
to an inner line of defense. The first and third of these 
causes no doubt operated to some extent, but the sec- 
ond we supposed to be the most influential. The de- 
serters also said that fully one third of the garrison were 
in hospital, and that officers, as well as men, had begun 
to despair of relief from Johnston. 

These reports from within the town, as well as the 
progress of the siege and the arrival of reinforcements, 
pointed so strongly to the speedy surrender of the place 
that I asked Mr. Stanton in my dispatch of June 14th 
to please inform me by telegram whether he wished me 
to go to General Rosecrans after the fall of Vicksburg 
or whether he had other orders for me. 

The next day after this letter, however, the enemy 
laid aside his long-standing inactivity and opened vio- 
lently with both artillery and musketry. Two mortars 
which the Confederates got into operation that day in 

88 



The Siege of Fichsburg. 

front of General A. J. Smith particularly interested our 
generals. I remember going with a party of some 
twenty officers, including Sherman, Ord, McPherson, 
and Wilson, to the brow of a hill on McPherson's front 
to watch this battery with our field glasses. From 
where we were we could study the whole operation. 
We saw the shell start from the mortar, sail slowly 
through the air toward us, fall to the ground and ex- 
plode, digging out a hole which looked like a crater. I 
remember one of these craters which must have been 
nine feet in diameter. As you watched a shell coming 
you could not tell whether it would fall a thousand feet 
away or by your side. Yet nobody budged. The men 
sat there on their horses, their reins loose, studying and 
discussing the work of the batteries, apparently indif- 
ferent to the danger. It was very interesting as a study 
of human steadiness. 

By the middle of June our lines were so near the 
enemy's on Sherman's and McPherson's front that 
General Grant began to consider the project of another 
general assault as soon as McClernand's, Lauman's, and 
Herron's lines were brought up close. Accordingly, 
Sherman and McPherson were directed to hold their 
work until the others were up to them. Herron, of 
course, had not had time to advance, though since his 
arrival he had worked with great energy. Lauman had 
done little in the way of regular approaches. But the 
chief difficulty in the way was the backwardness of Mc- 
Clernand. His trenches were mere rifle-pits, three or 
four feet wide, and would allow neither the passage of 
artillery nor the assemblage of any considerable number 

89 



Recollections of the Civil I4 r ar. 

of troops. His batteries were, with scarcely an excep- 
tion, in the position they apparently had held when the 
siege was opened. 

This obstacle to success was soon removed. On the 
18th of June McClernand was relieved and General Ord 
was put into his place. The immediate occasion of Mc- 
Clernand's removal was a congratulatory address to the 
Thirteenth Corps which he had fulminated in May, 
and which first reached the besieging army in a copy 
of the Missouri Democrat. In this extraordinary ad- 
dress McClernand claimed for himself most of the glory 
of the campaign, reaffirmed that on May 226. he had 
held two rebel forts for several hours, and imputed to 
other officers and troops failure to support him in their 
possession, which must have resulted in the capture of 
the town, etc. Though this congratulatory address was 
the occasion of McClernand's removal, the real causes 
of it dated farther back. These causes, as I understood 
at the time, were his repeated disobedience of important 
orders, his general unfortunate mental disposition, and 
his palpable incompetence for the duties of his position. 
I learned in private conversation that in General Grant's 
judgment it was necessary that McClernand should be 
removed for the reason, above all, that his bad relations 
with other corps commanders, especially Sherman and 
McPherson, rendered it impossible that the chief com- 
mand of the army should devolve upon him, as it would 
have done were General Grant disabled, without some 
pernicious consequence to the Union cause. 



90 



CHAPTER VII. 
pemberton's surrender. 

The artillery assault of June 20 — McPherson springs a mine — Grant 
decides to storm the city — Pemberton asks for an interview and 
terms — The "unconditional surrender" note — At the meeting of 
Grant and Pemberton between the lines — The ride into Vicksburg 
and the Fourth of July celebration there. 

Two days after McClernand's removal General 
Grant attempted to settle the question whether he 
should make a further attempt to storm Vicksburg or 
leave its reduction to the regular progress of siege op- 
erations. To test what an assault would do, he began, 
at four o'clock on the morning of June 20th, an artil- 
lery attack, in which about two hundred cannon were 
engaged. During the attack no Confederates were 
visible, nor was any reply made to our artillery. Their 
musketry fire also amounted to nothing. Of course, 
some damage was done to the buildings of the town by 
our concentrated cannonade, but we could not tell 
whether their mills, foundry, or storehouses were de- 
stroyed. Their rifle-pits and defenses were little in- 
jured. At ten o'clock the cannonade ceased. It was 
evident that the probabilities of immediate success by 
assault would not compensate for the sacrifices. 

After the artillery attack on the 20th, the next ex- 
citing incident of the siege was the springing of a 

91 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

mine by McPherson. Directly in front of his position 
the enemy had a great fort which was regarded as the 
key of their line. As soon as McPherson had got into 
position behind Vicksburg he had begun to run trenches 
toward this fort, under which he subsequently tunneled, 
hoping that by an explosion he would open it to our 
occupation. The mine was sprung about four o'clock 
on the afternoon of June 25th. It was charged with 
twelve hundred pounds of powder. The explosion was 
terrific, forming a crater fully thirty-five feet in diame- 
ter, but it did not open the fort. There still remained 
between the new ground which we had gained by the 
explosion and the main works of the fort an ascent so 
steep that an assault was practically impossible. The 
enemy very soon opened a galling fire from within the 
fort with shells with short fuses, thrown over the ridge 
by hand, like grenades, and these did some execution. 
The wounds inflicted by these missiles were frightful. 
To this we replied as actively as possible, and this con- 
flict between parties invisible to each other, not only 
on account of the darkness, but also on account of the 
barrier between them, was kept up with fury during 
the night and the next forenoon. Immediately on the 
springing of the mine a tremendous cannonade was 
opened along our whole line, accompanied by active 
firing from the rifle-pits. This fire was continued with 
little relaxation during the night and the next day. 
After several days of this kind of warfare, we had made 
no progress whatever, not being able either to plant a 
battery or to open a rifle-pit upon the new ground. 
Eventually McPherson completed another mine, 

92 



Pembertotfs Surrender. 

which he exploded on the first day of July. Many Con- 
federates were killed, and six were thrown over into 
our lines by the explosion. They were all dead but 
one, a negro, who got well and joined our army. Mc- 
Pherson did not, however, get possession of the place 
through this mine, as he had hoped. 

Little advancement was made in the siege after Mc- 
Pherson sprang his first mine on the 25th of June, 
except in the matter of time and in the holding of the 
lines of investment. Several things conspired to pro- 
duce inactivity and a sort of listlessness among the vari- 
ous commands — the heat of the weather, the unex- 
pected length of the siege, the endurance of the defense, 
the absence of any thorough organization of the en- 
gineer department, and, above all, the well-grounded 
general belief of our officers and men that the town must 
presently fall through starvation, without any special 
effort or sacrifice. This belief was founded on the re- 
ports from within Vicksburg. Every new party of 
deserters which reached us agreed that the provisions 
of the place were near the point of total exhaustion, 
that rations had been reduced lower than ever, that ex- 
treme dissatisfaction existed among the garrison, and it 
was generally expected — indeed, there was a sort of 
conviction — on all hands that the city would be sur- 
rendered on Saturday, July 4th, if, indeed, it could hold 
out so long as that. 

While apathy grew in our ranks, the Confederates 
displayed more activity than ever. On the morning of 
June 27th they sprang a countermine on Sherman's 
front, which destroyed the mines Sherman's engineers 

93 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

had nearly finished, and threw the head of his sap into 
general confusion. McPherson was prevented from 
taking possession of the fort, which had been partially 
destroyed. Ord's (lately McClernand's) working par- 
ties, which were now well up to the Confederate lines, 
were checked by hand grenades. Lauman was almost 
nightly assailed by little sorties of the enemy, and 
always lost a few men in them, killed, wounded, or 
captured. 

The operations west of the Mississippi became more 
threatening, too. Our scouts brought in word that 
Price and Kirby Smith were about to attempt to pro- 
vision Vicksburg by way of Milliken's Bend. There 
were rumors also that some two thousand or more 
skiffs had been prepared within the town, by which it 
was thought the garrison might escape. 

The general indisposition of our troops to prosecute 
the siege zealously, and the evident determination on 
the part of the enemy to hold out until the last, caused 
General Grant to hold a council of war on the morning 
of June 30th, to take judgment on the question of trying 
another general assault, or leaving the result to the 
exhaustion of the garrison. The conclusion of the 
council was in favor of the latter policy, but two 
days later, July 2d, Grant told me that if the enemy 
did not give up Vicksburg by the 6th he should 
storm it. 

Happily, there was no need to wait until the 6th. 
The general expectation that something would happen 
by July 4th was about to be confirmed. On the morn- 
ing of Friday, July 3d, a soldier appeared on the Con- 

94 



Pembertorts Surrender. 

federate line, in McPherson's front, bearing a flag of 
truce. General A. J. Smith was sent to meet this man, 
who proved to be an officer, General J. S. Bowen. He 
bore a letter from Pemberton addressed to Grant. The 
letter was taken to headquarters, where it was read by 
the general and its contents were made known to the 
staff. It was a request for an armistice to arrange terms 
for the capitulation of Vicksburg. To this end Pember- 
ton asked that three commissioners be appointed to 
meet a like number to be named by himself. Grant 
immediately wrote this reply: 

The useless effusion of blood you propose stopping 
by this course can be ended at any time you may choose 
by an unconditional surrender of the city and garrison. 
Men who have shown so much endurance and cour- 
age as those now in Vicksburg will always challenge 
the respect of an adversary, and I can assure you 
will be treated with all the respect due to prisoners of 
war. 

I do not favor the proposition of appointing com- 
missioners to arrange terms of capitulation, because I 
have no terms other than those indicated above. 

Bowen, the bearer of Pemberton's letter, who had 
been received by A. J. Smith, expressed a strong desire 
to converse with General Grant. While declining this, 
Grant requested Smith to say to Bowen that if Gen- 
eral Pemberton desired to see him an interview would 
be granted between the lines in McPherson's front at 
any hour in the afternoon which Pemberton might ap- 
point. After Bowen's departure a message was soon 
sent back to Smith, accepting the proposal for an in- 
terview, and appointing three o'clock as the hour. 

95 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

Grant was there with his staff and with Generals Ord, 
McPherson, Logan, and A. J. Smith. Sherman was 
not present, being with his command watching Joe 
Johnston, and ready to spring upon the latter as soon 
as Pemberton was captured. Pemberton came late, 
attended by General Bowen and Colonel L. M. Mont- 
gomery. 

It must have been a bitter moment for the Confed- 
erate chieftain. Pemberton was a Northern man, a 
Pennsylvanian by birth, from which State he was ap- 
pointed to West Point, graduating in 1837. In the old 
army he fell under the spell of the influence of Jefferson 
Davis, whose close friend he was. Davis appears to have 
thought Pemberton was a military genius, for he was 
jumped almost at a stroke, without much previous serv- 
ice, to be a lieutenant general, and the defense of the 
Mississippi River was given over to his charge. His 
dispositions throughout the entire campaign, after Grant 
crossed at Bruinsburg, were weak, and he was easily 
overcome, although his troops fought well. As Joe 
Johnston truthfully remarks in his Narrative, Pember- 
ton did not understand Grant's warfare at all. Penned 
up and finally compelled to surrender a vital post and 
a great army to his conqueror, an almost irremediable 
disaster to his cause, Pemberton not only suffered the 
usual pangs of defeat, but he was doubly humiliated by 
the knowledge that he would be suspected and accused 
of treachery by his adopted brethren, and that the re- 
sult would be used by the enemies of Davis, whose 
favorite he was, to undermine the Confederate admin- 
istration. As the events proved, it was indeed a great 

96 



Pemberton's Surrender. 

blow to Davis's hold upon the people of the South. 
These things must have passed through Pemberton's 
mind as he faced Grant for this final settlement of the 
fate of Vicksburg. 

The conversation was held apart between Pember- 
ton and his two officers and Grant, McPherson, and A. 
J. Smith, the rest of us being seated on the ground 
near by. 

We could, however, see that Pemberton was much 
excited, and was impatient in his answers to Grant. He 
insisted that his army be paroled and allowed to march 
beyond our lines, officers and all, with eight days' ra- 
tions, drawn from their own stores, officers to retain 
their private property and body servants. Grant heard 
what Pemberton had to say, and left him at the end 
of an hour and a half, saying that he would send in his 
ultimatum in writing before evening; to this Pember- 
ton promised to reply before night, hostilities to cease 
in the meantime. Grant then conferred at his head- 
quarters with his corps and division commanders, all 
of whom, except Steele, who advised unconditional 
surrender, favored a plan proposed by McPherson, and 
finally adopted by Grant. The argument against the 
plan was one of feeling only. In its favor it was urged 
that it would at once not only tend to the demoral- 
ization of the enemy, but also release Grant's whole 
army for offensive operations against Joe Johnston and 
Port Hudson, while to guard and transport so many 
prisoners would require a great portion of our army's 
strength. Keeping the prisoners would also absorb all 
our steamboat transportation, while paroling them 
8 97 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

would leave it free to move our troops. Paroling would 
also save us an enormous expenditure. 

After long consideration, General Grant reluctantly 
gave way to these reasons, and at six o'clock in the 
afternoon he sent a letter by the hands of General Logan 
and Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, in which he stated as 
terms that, as soon as rolls could be made out and pa- 
roles signed by officers and men, Pemberton would be 
allowed to march out of our lines, the officers taking with 
them their side-arms and clothing, and the field, staff, 
and cavalry officers one horse each. The rank and file 
were to retain all their clothing, but no other property. 
If these conditions were accepted, any amount of ra- 
tions deemed necessary was to be taken from the 
stores they had, besides the necessary cooking utensils. 
Thirty wagons also, counting two two-horse or mule 
teams as one, were to be allowed to transport such arti- 
cles as could not be carried along. The same conditions 
were allowed to all sick and wounded officers and sol- 
diers as fast as they became able to travel. 

The officer who received this letter stated that it 
would be impossible to answer it by night, and it was 
not till a little before peep of day that the reply was 
furnished. In the main the terms were accepted, but 
Pemberton proposed as amendments: 

At 10 a. m. to-morrow I propose to evacuate the 
works in and around Vicksburg, and to surrender the 
city and garrison under my command by marching out 
with my colors and arms, stacking them in front of my 
present lines, after which you will take possession. Of- 
ficers to retain their side-arms and personal property, 
and the rights and property of citizens to be respected. 

98 



F ''ember tori 's Surrender. 

General Grant immediately replied: 

I can make no stipulations with regard to the treat- 
ment of citizens and their private property. . . . The 
property which officers will be allowed to take with 
them will be as stated in my proposition of last evening. 
... If you mean by your proposition for each brigade 
to march to the front of the line now occupied by it, 
and stack arms at 10 a. m., and then return to the in- 
side and there remain as prisoners until properly pa- 
roled, I will make no objection to it. 

Should no notification be received of your accept- 
ance of my terms by 9 a. m., I shall regard them as hav- 
ing been rejected, and shall act accordingly. 

The answer came back promptly, " The terms pro- 
posed by you are accepted." 

We had a glorious celebration that day. Pember- 
ton's note had been received just after daylight, and at 
the appointed hour of ten o'clock the surrender was 
consummated, the Confederate troops marching out and 
stacking arms in front of their works, while Pemberton 
appeared for a moment with his staff upon the parapet 
of the central fort. At eleven o'clock Grant entered 
the city. He was received by Pemberton with more 
marked impertinence than at their former interview. 
Grant bore it like a philosopher, and in reply treated 
Pemberton with even gentler courtesy and dignity than 
before. 

I rode into Vicksburg at the side of the conqueror, 
and afterward perambulated among the conquered. 
The Confederate soldiers were generally more con- 
tented even than we were. Now they were going home, 
they said. They had had enough of the war. The cause 
of the Confederacy was lost. They wanted to take the 

99 

LofC. 



Recollections of the Civil IVar. 

oath of allegiance many of them. I was not surprised 
to learn a month later that of the twenty-odd thousand 
well men who were paroled at Vicksburg the greater 
part had since dispersed, and I felt sure they could 
never be got to serve again. The officers, on the other 
hand, all declared their determination never to give in. 
They had mostly on that day the look of men who have 
been crying all night. One major, who commanded 
a regiment from Missouri, burst into tears as he fol- 
lowed his disarmed men back into their lines after they 
had surrendered their colors and the guns in front of 
them. 

I found the buildings of Vicksburg much less dam- 
aged than I had expected. Still, there were a good 
many people living in caves dug in the banks. Natu- 
rally the shells did less damage to these vaults than to 
dwellings. There was a considerable supply of railroad 
cars in the town, with one or two railroad locomotives 
in working condition. There was also an unexpected 
quantity of military supplies. At the end of the first 
week after our entrance sixty-six thousand stand of 
small arms had been collected, mainly in good condi- 
tion, and more were constantly being discovered. They 
were concealed in caves, as well as in all sorts of build- 
ings. The siege and seacoast guns found exceeded 
sixty, and the whole captured artillery was above two 
hundred pieces. The stores of rebel ammunition also 
proved to be surprisingly heavy. As Grant expressed 
it, there was enough to have kept up the defense for 
six years at the rate they were using it. The stock of 
army clothing was officially invoiced at five million 

ioo 



Pembertorts Surrender. 

dollars — Confederate prices. Of sugar, molasses, and 
salt there was a large quantity, and sixty thousand 
pounds of bacon were found in one place. 

The way in which Grant handled his army at the 
capitulation of Vicksburg was a splendid example of 
his energy. As soon as negotiations for surrender 
began on the 3d, he sent word to Sherman, at his camp 
on Bear Creek, to get ready to move against Johnston. 
Sherman always acted on the instant, and that very 
afternoon he threw bridges across the Big Black. He 
started his forces over the river on the 4th as soon as 
he received word that Pemberton had accepted Grant's 
ultimatum. 

In the meantime Grant had ordered part of Ord's 
corps, all of Steele's division, and the two divisions of 
the Ninth Corps, which was at Haynes's Bluff, to be 
ready to join Sherman as soon as the capitulation 
was effected. Their movement was so prompt that 
by Sunday night, July 5th, part of Ord's force was 
across the Big Black and Steele was well up to the 
river. 

As Grant supposed that Banks needed help at Port 
Hudson, he had sent a messenger to him on the 1st of 
the month telling him the surrender was imminent, and 
offering aid if he needed it. A division — that of Herron 
— was now made ready to march as soon as word came 
back. In the city itself there was the greatest activity. 
The occupation of the place by our forces was directed 
by General McPherson, who was appointed to the com- 
mand. Three divisions were detailed to garrison the 
line of fortifications and to furnish the guards for the 

101 



Recollections of the Civil Ifar, 

interior of the city. By the night of the 5th no troops 
remained outside of Vicksburg. 

The paroling of the Confederate troops began as 
soon as the occupation was complete, and was pushed 
with all possible rapidity. At the same time those parts 
of the fortifications which we were now to defend were 
selected, and the men began to obliterate the siege 
approaches at which they had worked so hard and so 
long. So busy was Grant with the mobilization of his 
army for offensive field operations and the garrisoning 
of Vicksburg that he did not take time even to write 
to Washington. My telegram of July 5th to Mr. Stan- 
ton describing the surrender and the condition of things 
in Vicksburg conveyed this request from Grant for in- 
structions from Washington: 

General Grant, being himself intensely occupied, de- 
sires me to say that he would like to receive from Gen- 
eral Halleck as soon as practicable either general or 
specific instructions as to the future conduct of the 
war in his department. He has no idea of going into 
summer quarters, nor does he doubt his ability to em- 
ploy his army so as to make its blows tell toward the 
great result; but he would like to be informed whether 
the Government wishes him to follow his own judg- 
ment or to co-operate in some particular scheme of 
operations. 

With the fall of Vicksburg my mission was at an 
end. On the 6th of July I left Grant for the North, 
stopping at Helena, Ark., on my way up the river long 
enough to get news of Gen. Prentiss's recent operations. 
Thence I went on to Cairo and Washington. 



102 



CHAPTER VIII. 

WITH THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND. 

Appointment as Assistant Secretary of War — Again to the far front — 
An interesting meeting with Andrew Johnson — Rosecrans's com- 
plaints — His view of the situation at Chattanooga — At General 
Thomas's headquarters — The first day of Chickamauga — The bat- 
tlefield telegraph service — A night council of war at Widow Glenn's 
— Personal experiences of the disastrous second day's battle — The 
" Rock of Chickamauga." 

I happened to be the first man to reach the capital 
from Vicksburg, and everybody wanted to hear the 
story and to ask questions. I was anxious to get home 
and see my family, however, and left for New York as 
soon as I could get away. A few days after I arrived 
in New York I received an invitation to go into busi- 
ness there with Mr. Ketchum, a banker, and with 
George Opdyke, the merchant. I wrote Mr. Stanton 
of the opening, but he urged me to remain in the War 
Department as one of his assistants, which I consented 
to do.* 

The first commission with which Mr. Stanton 
charged me after my appointment as his assistant was 
one similar to that which I had just finished — to go to 

* Although appointed some months before, Mr. Dana was not nomi- 
nated in the Senate as Second Assistant Secretary of War until January 
20, 1864 ; the nomination was confirmed on January 26. 

103 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

Tennessee to observe and report the movements of 
Rosecrans against Bragg. General Rosecrans, who, 
after the battle of Stone's River, or Murfreesboro, on 
December 31st to January 2, 1863, had lain for nearly 
six months at Murfreesboro, obstructing on various 
excuses all the efforts Lincoln and Stanton and Hal- 
leck put forth to make him move against Bragg, who 
occupied what was known as the Tullahoma line, had 
toward the end of June moved on Bragg and driven 
him across the Tennessee River. He had then settled 
down to rest again, while Bragg had taken possession 
of his new line in and about Chattanooga. 

Burnside, who was in Kentucky, had been ordered 
to unite with Rosecrans by way of East Tennessee, in 
order that the combined force should attack Bragg, 
but, despite the urgency of the administration, no move- 
ment was made by Rosecrans until the middle of Au- 
gust. As soon as it was evident that he was really 
going out against the Confederates, Mr. Stanton asked 
me to join the Army of the Cumberland. My orders 
were to report directly to Rosecrans's headquarters. I 
carried the following letter of introduction to that gen- 
eral: 

War Department, 
Washington City, August 30, 1863. 

Maj.-Gen. Rosecrans, Commanding, etc. 

General : This will introduce to you Charles A. 
Dana, Esq., one of my assistants, who visits your com- 
mand for the purpose of conferring with you upon any 
subject which you may desire to have brought to the 
notice of the department. Mr. Dana is a gentleman of 
distinguished character, patriotism, and ability, and pos- 
sesses the entire confidence of the department. You 

104 



With the Army of the Cumberland. 

will please afford to him the courtesy and consideration 
which he merits, and explain to him fully any matters 
which you may desire through him to bring to the no- 
tice of the department. 

Yours truly, Edwin M. Stanton. 

As soon as my papers arrived I left for my post. I 
was much delayed on railroads and steamboats, and 
when I reached Cincinnati found it was impossible to 
join Burnside by his line of march to Knoxville and 
from him go to Rosecrans, as I had intended. Accord- 
ingly I went on to Louisville, where I arrived on Sep- 
tember 5th. I found there that Burnside had just occu- 
pied Knoxville; that the Ninth Corps, which two 
months before I had left near Vicksburg, was now 
about to go to him from near Louisville; and that Rose- 
crans had queerly enough telegraphed to the clergy 
all over the country that he expected a great battle that 
day and desired their prayers. 

I went directly from Louisville to Nashville, where 
I found General Gordon Granger in command. As he 
and Governor Johnson were going to the front in a 
day or two, I waited to go with them. The morning 
after my arrival at Nashville I went to call on Johnson. 
I had never met him before. 

Andrew Johnson was short and stocky, of dark 
complexion, smooth face, dark hair, dark eyes, and 
of great determination of appearance. When I went 
to see him in his office, the first thing he said was: 

"Will you have a drink?" 

" Yes, I will," I answered. So he brought out a 
jug of whisky and poured out as much as he wanted in 

105 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

a tumbler, and then made it about half and half water. 
The theoretical, philosophical drinker pours out a little 
whisky and puts in almost no water at all — drinks it 
pretty nearly pure — but when a man gets to taking a 
good deal of water in his whisky, it shows he is in the 
habit of drinking a good deal. I noticed that the Gov- 
ernor took more whisky than most gentlemen would 
have done, and I concluded that he took it pretty 
often. 

I had a prolonged conversation that morning with 
Governor Johnson, who expressed himself in cheering 
terms in regard to the general condition of Tennessee. 
He regarded the occupation of Knoxville by Burnside 
as completing the permanent expulsion of Confederate 
power, and said he should order a general election for 
the first week in October. He declared that slavery 
was destroyed in fact, but must be abolished legally. 
Johnson was thoroughly in favor of immediate emanci- 
pation both as a matter of moral right and as an indis- 
pensable condition of the large immigration of indus- 
trious freemen which he thought necessary to repeople 
and regenerate the State. 

On the ioth of September we started for the front, 
going by rail to Bridgeport, on the Tennessee River. 
This town at that date was the terminus of the Nash- 
ville and Chattanooga Railroad. The bridge across the 
river and part of the railroad beyond had been destroyed 
by Bragg when he retreated in the preceding summer 
from Tullahoma. It was by way of Bridgeport that 
troops were joining Rosecrans at the far front, and all 
supplies went to him that way. On reaching the town, 

106 



With the Army of the Cumberland. 

we heard that Chattanooga had been occupied by Crit- 
tenden's corps of Rosecrans's army the day before, Sep- 
tember 9th; so the next day, September nth, I pushed 
on there by horseback past Shellmound and Wauhat- 
chie. The country through which I passed is a mag- 
nificent region of rocks and valleys, and I don't be- 
lieve there is anywhere a finer view than that I had from 
Lookout Mountain as I approached Chattanooga. 

When I reached Chattanooga I went at once to 
General Rosecrans's headquarters and presented my 
letter. He read it, and then burst out in angry abuse 
of the Government at Washington. He had not been 
sustained, he said. His requests had been ignored, his 
plans thwarted. Both Stanton and Halleck had done 
all they could, he declared, to prevent his success. 

" General Rosecrans," I said, " I have no authority 
to listen to complaints against the Government. I was 
sent here for the purpose of finding out what the Gov- 
ernment could do to aid you, and have no right to 
confer with you on other matters." 

He quieted down at once, and explained his situa- 
tion to me. He had reached Chattanooga, he said, on 
the 10th, with Crittenden's troops, the Twenty-first 
Corps, the town having been evacuated the day before 
by the Confederates. As all the reports brought in 
seemed to indicate that Bragg was in full retreat toward 
Rome, Ga., Crittenden had immediately started in pur- 
suit, and had gone as far as Ringgold. On the night 
before (September nth) it had seemed evident that 
Bragg had abandoned his retreat on Rome, and behind 
the curtain of the woods and hills had returned with the 

107 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

purpose of suddenly falling with his whole army upon 
the different corps and divisions of our army, now 
widely separated by the necessity of crossing the moun- 
tains at gaps far apart. 

This was a serious matter for Rosecrans, if true, for 
at that moment his army was scattered over a line more 
than fifty miles long, extending from Chattanooga on 
the north to Alpine on the south. Rosecrans pointed 
out to me the positions on the map. Crittenden, he 
explained, had been ordered immediately to leave Ring- 
gold and move westward to the valley of the West 
Chickamauga. He was near a place known as Lee and 
Gordon's Mills. General Thomas, who commanded the 
Fourteenth Corps, had marched across Lookout Moun- 
tain and now held Stevens's Gap, perhaps twenty-five 
miles south of Chattanooga. McCook, with the Twen- 
tieth Corps, had been ordered, after crossing the Ten- 
nessee, to march southeast, and now was at Alpine, 
fully thirty-five miles south of Crittenden. Orders had 
been sent McCook, when it was found that Bragg had 
made a stand, to rest his left flank on the southern base 
of Mission Ridge, and, extending his line toward Sum- 
merville, fall on the flank of the enemy should he follow 
the valley that way. The reserve, under Gordon 
Granger, was still north of the Tennessee, although one 
division had reached Bridgeport and the rest were rap- 
idly approaching. Notwithstanding the signs that 
Bragg might not be retreating so fast as he at first ap- 
peared to have been, Rosecrans was confident as late 
as the 1 2th that the Confederate commander was merely 
making a show of the offensive to check pursuit, and 

1 08 



With the Army of the Cumberland. 

that he would make his escape to Rome as soon as he 
found our army concentrated for battle east of Lookout 
Mountain. 

The next day (the 13th) I left Chattanooga with 
Rosecrans and his staff for Thomas's headquarters at 
Stevens's Gap. We found everything progressing fa- 
vorably there. The movements for the concentration 
of the three corps were going forward with energy. 
Scouts were coming in constantly, who reported that 
the enemy had withdrawn from the basin where our 
army was assembling; that he was evacuating Lafayette 
and moving toward Rome. It seemed as if at last the 
Army of the Cumberland had practically gained a posi- 
tion from which it could effectually advance upon Rome 
and Atlanta, and deliver there the finishing blow of 
the war. The difficulties of gaining this position, of 
crossing the Cumberland Mountains, passing the Ten- 
nessee, turning and occupying Chattanooga, traversing 
the mountain ridges of northern Georgia, and seizing 
the passes which led southward had been enormous. It 
was only when I came personally to examine the region 
that I appreciated what had been done. These diffi- 
culties were all substantially overcome. The army was 
in the best possible condition, and was advancing with 
all the rapidity which the nature of the country allowed. 
Our left flank toward East Tennessee was secured by 
Burnside, and the only disadvantage which I could see 
was that a sudden movement of the enemy to our right 
might endanger our long and precarious line of com- 
munications and compel us to retreat again beyond the 
Tennessee. I felt this so keenly that I urged Mr. Stan- 

109 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

ton, in a dispatch sent to him on the 14th from Thomas's 
headquarters, to push as strong a column as possible 
eastward from Corinth, in northeastern Mississippi. It 
seemed to me that it would be better to recall the troops 
from the West rather than to risk a check here, where 
the heart of rebellion was within reach and the final 
blow all prepared. 

But, after all, there was something of a mystery 
about the real location of Bragg's army, its strength, 
and the designs of its chief. At any rate it was soon 
manifest that Bragg was not withdrawing to the south- 
ward, as at first supposed. Some queer developments 
down the Chickamauga on the 16th and 17th caused 
Rosecrans considerable anxiety for Chattanooga. The 
impression began to grow, too, that Bragg had been 
playing 'possum, and had not retreated at all. Rose- 
crans at once abandoned all idea of operations against 
the Confederate line of retreat and supply, drew his 
army in rapidly, and began to look sharply after his own 
communications with Chattanooga, which had now be- 
come his base. 

By noon of September 18th the concentration was 
practically complete. Our army then lay up and down 
the valley, with West Chickamauga Creek in front of 
the greater part of the line. The left was held by Crit- 
tenden, the center by Thomas, and the right by Mc- 
Cook, whose troops were now all in the valley except 
one brigade. The army had not concentrated any too 
soon, for that very afternoon the enemy appeared on 
our left, and a considerable engagement occurred. It 
was said at headquarters that a battle was certain the 

no 



With the Army of the Cumberland. 

next day. The only point Rosecrans had not deter- 
mined at five o'clock on the afternoon of the 18th was 
whether to make a night march and fall on Bragg at 
daylight or to await his onset. 

But that night it became pretty clear to all that 
Bragg's plan was to push by our left into Chattanooga. 
This compelled another rapid movement by the left 
down the Chickamauga. By a tiresome night march 
Thomas moved down behind Crittenden and below Lee 
and Gordon's Mills, taking position on our extreme 
left. Crittenden followed, connecting with Thomas's 
right, and thus taking position in the center. McCook's 
corps also extended down stream to the left, but still 
covered the creek as high up as Crawfish Spring, while 
part of his troops acted as a reserve. These movements 
were hurriedly made, and the troops, especially those of 
Thomas, were very much exhausted by their efforts 
to get into position. 

Rosecrans had not been mistaken in Bragg's inten- 
tion. About nine o'clock the next morning at Craw- 
fish Spring, where the general headquarters were, we 
heard firing on our left, and reports at once came in 
that the battle had begun there, Bragg being in com- 
mand of the enemy. Thomas had barely headed the 
Confederates off from Chattanooga. We remained at 
Crawfish Springs on this day until after one o'clock, 
waiting for the full proportions of the conflict to de- 
velop. When it became evident that the battle was 
being fought entirely on our left, Rosecrans removed 
his headquarters nearer to the scene, taking a little 
house near Lee and Gordon's Mills, known as the 

in 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

Widow Glenn's. Although closer to the battle, we 
could see no more of it here than at Crawfish Springs, 
the conflict being fought altogether in a thick forest, 
and being invisible to outsiders. The nature of the 
firing and the reports from the commanders alone en- 
abled us to follow its progress. 

That we were able to keep as well informed as we 
were was due to our excellent telegraphic communica- 
tions. By this time the military telegraph had been so 
thoroughly developed that it was one of the most useful 
accessories of our army, even on a battlefield. For 
instance, after Rosecrans had taken Crawfish Springs 
as his headquarters, he had given orders, on September 
17th, to connect the place with Chattanooga, thirteen 
miles to the northwest. The line was completed after 
the battle began on the 19th, and we were in communi- 
cation not only with Chattanooga, but with Granger at 
Rossville and with Thomas at his headquarters. When 
Rosecrans removed to the Widow Glenn's, the telegra- 
phers went along, and in an hour had connections made 
and an instrument clicking away in Mrs. Glenn's house. 
We thus had constant information of the way the battle 
was going, not only from the orderlies, but also from the 
wires. 

This excellent arrangement enabled me also to keep 
the Government at Washington informed of the prog- 
ress of the battle. I sent eleven dispatches that day to 
Mr. Stanton. They were very brief, but they reported 
all that I, near as I was to the scene, knew of the battle 
of September 19th at Chickamauga. 

It was not till after dark that firing ceased and final 

112 



With the Army of the Cumberland. 

reports began to come in. From these we found that 
the enemy had been defeated in his attempt to turn 
and crush our left flank and secure possession of the 
Chattanooga roads, but that he was not wholly de- 
feated, for he still held his ground in several places, and 
was preparing, it was believed, to renew the battle the 
next day. 

That evening Rosecrans decided that if Bragg did 
not retreat he would renew the fight at daylight, and a 
council of war was held at our headquarters at the 
Widow Glenn's, to which all the corps and division 
commanders were summoned. There must have been 
ten or twelve general officers there. Rosecrans began 
by asking each of the corps commanders for a report 
of the condition of his troops and of the position they 
occupied; also for his opinion of what was to be done. 
Each proposition was discussed by the entire council as 
it was made. General Thomas was so tired — he had not 
slept at all the night before, and he had been in battle 
all day — that he went to sleep every minute. Every 
time Rosecrans spoke to him he would straighten up 
and answer, but he always said the same thing, " I would 
strengthen the left," and then he would be asleep, sit- 
ting up in his chair. General Rosecrans, to the proposi- 
tion to strengthen the left, made always the same reply, 
" Where are we going to take it from? " 

After the discussion was ended, Rosecrans gave his 
orders for the disposition of the troops on the follow- 
ing day. Thomas's corps was to remain on the left 
with his line somewhat drawn in, but substantially as 
he was at the close of the day. McCook was to close 
9 113 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

on Thomas and cover the position at Widow Glenn's, 
and Crittenden was to have two divisions in reserve 
near the junction of McCook's and Thomas's lines, to 
be able to succor either. These orders were written for 
each corps commander. They were also read in the 
presence of all, and the plans fully explained. Finally, 
after everything had been said, hot coffee was brought 
in, and then McCook was called upon to sing the He- 
brew Maiden. McCook sang the song, and then the 
council broke up and the generals went away. 

This was about midnight, and, as I was very tired, 
I lay down on the floor to sleep, beside Captain Horace 
Porter, who was at that time Rosecrans's chief of ord- 
nance. There were cracks in the floor of the Widow 
Glenn's house, and the wind blew up under us. We 
would go to sleep, and then the wind would come up 
so cold through the cracks that it would wake us up, 
and we would turn over together to keep warm. 

At daybreak we at headquarters were all up and on 
our horses ready to go with the commanding general 
to inspect our lines. We rode past McCook, Crittenden, 
and Thomas to the extreme left, Rosecrans giving as 
he went the orders he thought necessary to strengthen 
the several positions. The general intention of these 
orders was to close up on the left, where it was evident 
the attack would begin. We then rode back to the ex- 
treme right, Rosecrans stopping at each point to see 
if his orders had been obeyed. In several cases they 
had not been obeyed, and he made them more per- 
emptory. When we found that McCook's line had 
been elongated so that it was a mere thread, Rosecrans 

114 



With the Army of the Cumberland. 

was very angry, and sent for the general, rebuking him 
severely, although, as a matter of fact, General Mc- 
Cook's position had been taken under the written orders 
of the commander in chief, given the night before. 

About half past eight or nine o'clock the battle 
began on the left, where Thomas was. At that time 
Rosecrans, with whom I always remained, was on the 
right, directing the movements of the troops there. Just 
after the cannon began I remember that a ten-pound 
shell came crashing through our staff, but hurting no- 
body. I had not slept much for two nights, and, as it 
was warm, I dismounted about noon and, giving my 
horse to my orderly, lay down on the grass and went to 
sleep. I was awakened by the most infernal noise I ever 
heard. Never in any battle I had witnessed was there 
such a discharge of cannon and musketry. I sat up on 
the grass, and the first thing I saw was General Rose- 
crans crossing himself — he was a very devout Catholic. 
" Hello! " I said to myself, " if the general is crossing 
himself, we are in a desperate situation." 

I was on my horse in a moment. I had no sooner 
collected my thoughts and looked around toward the 
front, where all this din came from, than I saw our lines 
break and melt away like leaves before the wind. Then 
the headquarters around me disappeared. The gray- 
backs came through with a rush, and soon the musket 
balls and the cannon shot began to reach the place where 
we stood. The whole right of the army had apparently 
been routed. My orderly stuck to me like a veteran, 
and we drew back for greater safety into the woods a 
little way. There I came upon General Porter — Captain 

"5 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

Porter he was then — and Captain Drouillard, an aide- 
de-camp infantry officer attached to General Rose- 
crans's staff, halting fugitives. They would halt a few 
of them, get them into some sort of a line, and make a 
beginning of order among them, and then there would 
come a few rounds of cannon shot through the tree-tops 
over their heads and the men would break and run. I 
saw Porter and Drouillard plant themselves in front of 
a body of these stampeding men and command them to 
halt. One man charged with his bayonet, menacing 
Porter; but Porter held his ground, and the man gave 
in. That was the only case of real mutiny that I ever 
saw in the army, and that was under such circumstances 
that the man was excusable. The cause of all this dis- 
aster was the charge of the Confederates through the 
hiatus in the line caused by the withdrawal of Wood's 
division, under a misapprehension of orders, before its 
place could be filled. 

I attempted to make my way from this point in the 
woods to Sheridan's division, but when I reached the 
place where I knew it had been a little time before, 
I found it had been swept from the field. Not far 
away, however, I stumbled on a body of organized 
troops. This was a brigade of mounted riflemen under 
Colonel John T. Wilder, of Indiana. " Mr. Dana," 
asked Colonel Wilder, " what is the situation? " 

" I do not know," I said, " except that this end of 
the army has been routed. There is still heavy fighting 
at the left front, and our troops seem to be holding 
their ground there yet." 

" Will you give me any orders? " he asked. 

116 



With the Army of the Cumberland. 

" I have no authority to give orders," I replied; 
" but if I were in your situation I should go to the left, 
where Thomas is." 

Then I turned my horse, and, making my way over 
Missionary Ridge, struck the Chattanooga Valley and 
rode to Chattanooga, twelve or fifteen miles away. The 
whole road was filled with flying soldiers; here and there 
were pieces of artillery, caissons, and baggage wagons. 
Everything was in the greatest disorder. When I 
reached Chattanooga, a little before four o'clock, I 
found Rosecrans there. In the helter-skelter to the 
rear he had escaped by the Rossville road. He was ex- 
pecting every moment that the enemy would arrive 
before the town, and was doing all he could to prepare 
to resist his entrance. Soon after I arrived the two 
corps commanders, McCook and Crittenden, both came 
into Chattanooga. 

The first thing I did on reaching town was to tele- 
graph Mr. Stanton. I had not sent him any telegrams 
in the morning, for I had been in the field with Rose- 
crans, and part of the time at some distance from the 
Widow Glenn's, where the operators were at work. The 
boys kept at their post there until the Confederates swept 
them out of the house. When they had to run, they 
went instruments and tools in hand, and as soon as out 
of reach of the enemy set up shop on a stump. It was 
not long before they were driven out of this. They 
next attempted to establish an office on the Rossville 
road, but before they had succeeded in making connec- 
tions a battle was raging around them, and they had to 
retreat to Granger's headquarters at Rossville. 

117 



Recollections of the Civil JVar. 

Having been swept bodily off the battlefield, and 
having made my way into Chattanooga through a panic- 
stricken rabble, the first telegram which I sent to Mr. 
Stanton was naturally colored by what I had seen and 
experienced. I remember that I began the dispatch 
by saying: " My report to-day is of deplorable impor- 
tance. Chickamauga is as fatal a name in our history 
as Bull Run." By eight o'clock that evening, how- 
ever, I found that I had given too dark a view of the 
disaster. 

Early the next morning things looked still better. 
Rosecrans received a telegram from Thomas at Ross- 
ville, to which point he had withdrawn after the night- 
fall, saying that his troops were in high spirits, and that 
he had brought off all his wounded. A little while 
before noon General James A. Garfield, who was chief 
of Rosecrans's staff, arrived in Chattanooga and gave 
us the first connected account we had of the battle on 
the left after the rout. Garfield said that he had become 
separated from Rosecrans in the rout of our right wing 
and had made his way to the left, and spent the after- 
noon and night with General Thomas. There he wit- 
nessed the sequel of the battle in that part of the field. 
Thomas, finding himself cut off from Rosecrans and 
the right, at once marshalled the remaining divisions for 
independent fighting. Refusing both his right and left, 
his line assumed the form of a horseshoe, posted along 
the slope and crest of a partly wooded ridge. He was 
soon joined by Granger from Rossville, with Steedman 
and most of the reserve; and with these forces, more 
than two thirds of the army, he firmly maintained the 

118 



With the Army of the Cumberland. 

fight till after dark. Our troops were as immovable 
as the rocks they stood on. Longstreet hurled against 
them repeatedly the dense columns which had routed 
Davis and Sheridan in the early afternoon, but every 
onset was repulsed with dreadful slaughter. Falling 
first on one and then another point of our lines, for 
hours the rebels vainly sought to break them. Thomas 
seemed to have filled every soldier with his own uncon- 
querable firmness, and Granger, his hat torn by bullets, 
raged like a lion wherever the combat was hottest with 
the electrical courage of a Ney. When night fell, this 
body of heroes stood on the same ground they had oc- 
cupied in the morning, their spirit unbroken, but their 
numbers greatly diminished. 



119 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE REMOVAL OF ROSECRANS. 

Preparing to defend Chattanooga — Effect on the army of the day of 
disaster and glory — Mr. Dana suggests Grant or Thomas as Rose- 
crans's successor — Portrait of Thomas — The dignity and loyalty 
of his character illustrated — The army reorganized — It is threat- 
ened with starvation — An estimate of Rosecrans — He is relieved 
of the command of the Army of the Cumberland. 

All the news we could get the next day of the ene- 
my's movements seemed to show that the Confederate 
forces were concentrating on Chattanooga. Accord- 
ingly, Rosecrans gave orders for all our troops to gather 
in the town at once and prepare for the attack which 
would probably take place within a day or two. By 
midnight the army was in Chattanooga. The troops 
were in wonderful spirits, considering their excessive 
fatigues and heavy losses, and the next morning went 
to work with energy on the fortifications. All the morn- 
ing of the 226. the enemy were approaching, resisted 
by our advance parties, and by the middle of the after- 
noon the artillery firing was so near that it seemed cer- 
tain that the battle would be fought before dark. No 
attack was made that day, however, nor the next, and 
by the morning of the 24th the Herculean labors of the 
army had so fortified the place that it was certain that 
it could be taken only by a regular siege or by a turn- 

120 



The Removal of Rosecrans. 

ing movement. The strength of our forces was about 
forty-five thousand effective men, and we had ten days' 
full rations on hand. Chattanooga could hold out, but 
it was apparent that no offensive operations were pos- 
sible until re-enforcements came. These we knew had 
been hurried toward us as soon as the news of the dis- 
aster of the 20th reached Washington. Burnside was 
coming from Knoxville, we supposed, Hooker had 
been ordered from Washington by rail, Sherman from 
Vicksburg by steamer, and some of Hurlbut's troops 
from Memphis. 

The enemy by the 24th were massed in Chattanooga 
Valley, and held Missionary Ridge and Lookout Moun- 
tain. The summit of Lookout Mountain, almost the 
key to Chattanooga, was not given up by Rosecrans 
until the morning of the 24th ; then he ordered the 
withdrawal of the brigade which held the heights, and 
the destruction of the wagon road which winds along 
its side at about one third of its height and connects the 
valleys of Chattanooga and Lookout. Both Granger 
and Garfield earnestly protested against this order, con- 
tending that the mountain and the road could be held 
by not more than seven regiments against the whole 
power of the enemy. They were obviously right, but 
Rosecrans was sometimes as obstinate and inaccessible 
to reason as at others he was irresolute, vacillating, and 
inconclusive, and he pettishly rejected all their argu- 
ments. The mountain was given up. 

As soon as we felt reasonably sure that Chatta- 
nooga could hold out until re-enforcements came, the 
disaster of the 20th of September became the absorb- 

121 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

ing topic of conversation in the Army of the Cumber- 
land. At headquarters, in camp, in the street, on the 
fortifications, officers and soldiers and citizens wrangled 
over the reasons for the loss of the day. By the end 
of the first week after the disaster a serious fermenta- 
tion reigned in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Army 
Corps, and, indeed, throughout the whole army, grow- 
ing out of events connected with the battle. 

There was at once a manifest disposition to hold 
McCook and Crittenden, the commanders of the two 
corps/ responsible, because they had left the field of 
battle amid the rout of the right wing and made their 
way to Chattanooga.* It was not generally understood 
or appreciated at that time that, because of Thomas's 
repeated calls for aid and Rosecrans's consequent alarm 
for his left, Crittenden had been stripped of all his troops 
and had no infantry whatever left to command, and that 
McCook's lines also had been reduced to a fragment 
by similar orders from Rosecrans and by fighting. A 
strong opposition to both sprang up, which my tele- 
grams to Mr. Stanton immediately after the battle fully 
reflect. The generals of division and of brigade felt the 



* The feeling of the army toward McCook and Crittenden was after- 
ward greatly modified. A court of inquiry examined their cases, and 
in February, 1864, gave its final finding and opinion. McCook it re- 
lieved entirely from responsibility for the reverse of September 20th, 
declaring that the small force at his disposal was inadequate to defend, 
against greatly superior numbers, the long line he had taken under 
instructions, and adding that, after the line was broken, he had done 
everything he could to rally and hold his troops, giving the necessary 
orders to his subordinates. General Crittenden's conduct, the court 
likewise declared, showed no cause for censure, and he was in no way 
responsible for the disaster to the right wing. 

122 



The Removal of Rosecrans. 

situation deeply, and said that they could no longer 
serve under such superiors, and that, if this was re- 
quired of them, they must resign. This feeling was 
universal among them, including men like Major-Gen- 
erals Palmer and Sheridan and Brigadier-Generals 
Wood, Johnson, and Hazen. 

The feeling of these officers did not seem in the least 
to partake of a mutinous or disorderly character; it was 
rather conscientious unwillingness to risk their men and 
the country's cause in hands which they thought to be 
unsafe. No formal representation of this unwillingness 
was made to Rosecrans, but he was made aware of the 
state of things by private conversations with several of 
the parties. The defects of his character complicated 
the difficulty. He abounded in friendliness and appro- 
bativeness, and was greatly lacking in firmness and 
steadiness of will. In short, he was a temporizing man; 
he dreaded so heavy an alternative as was now pre- 
sented, and hated to break with McCook and Crit- 
tenden. 

Besides, there was a more serious obstacle to Rose- 
crans's acting decisively in the fact that if Crittenden 
and McCook had gone to Chattanooga, with the sound 
of artillery in their ears, from that glorious field where 
Thomas and Granger were saving their army and their 
country's honor, he had gone to Chattanooga also. It 
might be said in his excuse that, under the circumstances 
of the sudden rout, it was perfectly proper for the com- 
manding general to go to the rear to prepare the next 
line of defense. Still, Rosecrans felt that that excuse 
could not entirely clear him either in his own eyes or 

123 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

in those of the army. In fact, it was perfectly plain 
that, while the subordinate commanders would not 
resign if he was retained in the chief command, as I 
believe they certainly would have done if McCook and 
Crittenden had not been relieved, their respect for 
Rosecrans as a general had received an irreparable 
blow. 

The dissatisfaction with Rosecrans seemed to me to 
put the army into a very dangerous condition, and, in 
writing to Mr. Stanton on September 27th, I said that 
if it was decided to change the chief commander I would 
suggest that some Western commander of high rank 
and great prestige, like Grant, would be preferable as 
Rosecrans's successor to one who had hitherto com- 
manded in the East alone. 

The army, however, had its own candidate for Rose- 
crans's post. General Thomas had risen to the high- 
est point in their esteem, as he had in that of every one 
who witnessed his conduct on that unfortunate and 
glorious day, and I saw that, should there be a change 
in the chief command, there was no other man whose 
appointment would be so welcome. I earnestly recom- 
mended Mr. Stanton that in event of a change in the 
chief command Thomas's merits be considered. He 
was certainly an officer of the very highest qualities, 
soldierly and personally. He was a man of the greatest 
dignity of character. He had more the character of 
George Washington than any other man I ever knew. 
At the same time he was a delightful man to be with; 
there was no artificial dignity about Thomas. He was 
a West Point graduate, and very well educated. He 

124 



The Removal of Rosecrans. 

was very set in his opinions, yet he was not impatient 
with anybody — a noble character. 

In reply to my recommendation of Thomas, I re- 
ceived a telegram from the Secretary of War, saying: 
" I wish you to go directly to see General Thomas, and 
say to him that his services, his abilities, his character, 
his unselfishness, have always been most cordially appre- 
ciated by me, and that it is not my fault that he has not 
long since had command of an independent army." 

Accordingly, I went at once over to General Thom- 
as's headquarters. I remember that I got there just 
after they had finished dinner; the table was not cleared 
off, but there was nobody in the dining room. When 
General Thomas came in, I read to him the telegram 
from the Secretary. He was too much affected by it 
to reply immediately. After a moment he said: 

" Mr. Dana, I wish you would say to the Secretary 
of War that I am greatly affected by this expression 
of his confidence; that I should have long since liked 
to have had an independent command, but what I 
should have desired would have been the command of 
an army that I could myself have organized, disciplined, 
distributed, and combined. I wish you would add also 
that I would not like to take the command of an army 
where I should be exposed to the imputation of having 
intrigued or of having exercised any effort to supplant 
my previous commander." 

This was on October 4th. Four days later General 
Thomas sent a confidential friend to me, saying rumors 
had come to him that he was to be put in Rosecrans's 
place; that, while he would gladly accept any other 

125 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

command to which Mr. Stanton should see fit to assign 
him, he could not consent to become the successor of 
General Rosecrans. He would not do anything to give 
countenance to the suspicion that he had intrigued 
against his commander's interest. He declared that he 
had perfect confidence in the fidelity and capacity of 
General Rosecrans. 

The first change in the Army of the Cumberland was 
an order from Washington consolidating the Twentieth 
and Twenty-first Corps. The news reached Chatta- 
nooga on October 5th in a Nashville newspaper, and, 
not having been previously promulgated, it caused a 
sensation. Crittenden was much excited, and said that, 
as the Government no longer required his services, he 
would resign; at any rate, he would not hibernate like 
others, drawing pay and doing no work. McCook took 
it easily. The consolidation of the two corps was gen- 
erally well received, and, as it was to be followed by a 
general reorganization of the army, it seemed as if the 
most happy consequences would be produced. The 
only serious difficulty which followed the change was 
that the men in the consolidated corps were troubled 
by letters from home, showing that their friends re- 
garded a consolidation as a token of disgrace and pun- 
ishment. 

Although the reorganization of the army was going 
on, there was no real change in our situation, and by 
the middle of October it began to look as if we were 
in a helpless and precarious position. No re-enforce- 
ments had yet reached us, the enemy was growing 
stronger every day, and, worse still, we were threatened 

126 



The Removal of Rosecrans. 

with starvation. Rosecrans's error in abandoning Look- 
out Mountain to the enemy on September 24th was 
now apparent. Our supplies came by rail from Nash- 
ville to Bridgeport; but the enemy controlled the south 
shore of the Tennessee between us and Bridgeport, and 
thus prevented our rebuilding the railroad from Bridge- 
port to Chattanooga; with their shore batteries they 
stopped the use of our steamboats. They even made 
the road on the north shore impassable, the sharp- 
shooters on the south bank being able to pick off our 
men on the north. The forage and supplies which we 
had drawn from the country within our reach were now 
exhausted, and we were dependent upon what could 
be got to us over the roads north of the river. These 
were not only disturbed by the enemy, but were so bad 
in places that the mud was up to the horses' bellies. 
The animals themselves had become too weak to haul 
the empty train up the mountain, while many had died 
of starvation. On October 15th the troops were on half 
rations, and officers as they went about where the men 
were working on the fortifications frequently heard the 
cry of " Crackers! " 

In the midst of these difficulties General Rosecrans 
seemed to be insensible to the impending danger; he 
dawdled with trifles in a manner which scarcely can be 
imagined. With plenty of zealous and energetic of- 
ficers ready to do whatever needed to be done, precious 
time was lost because our dazed and mazy commander 
could not perceive the catastrophe that was close upon 
us, nor fix his mind upon the means of preventing it. 
I never saw anything which seemed so lamentable and 

127 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

hopeless. Our animals were starving, the men had 
starvation before them, and the enemy was bound soon 
to make desperate efforts to dislodge us. Yet the com- 
manding general devoted that part of the time which 
was not employed in pleasant gossip to the composition 
of a long report to prove that the Government was to 
blame for his failure on the 20th. 

While few persons exhibited more estimable social 
qualities, I have never seen a public man possessing 
talent with less administrative power, less clearness and 
steadiness in difficulty, and greater practical incapacity 
than General Rosecrans. He had inventive fertility and 
knowledge, but he had no strength of will and no con- 
centration of purpose. His mind scattered; there was 
no system in the use of his busy days and restless nights, 
no courage against individuals in his composition, and, 
with great love of command, he was a feeble commander. 
He was conscientious and honest, just as he was im- 
perious and disputatious; always with a stray vein of 
caprice and an overweening passion for the approbation 
of his personal friends and the public outside. 

Although the army had been reorganized as a result 
of the consolidation of the Twentieth and Twenty-first 
Corps, it was still inefficient and its discipline defective. 
The former condition proceeded from the fact that Gen- 
eral Rosecrans insisted on directing personally every 
department, and kept every one waiting and uncertain 
till he himself could directly supervise every operation. 
The latter proceeded from his utter lack of firmness, his 
passion for universal applause, and his incapacity to 
hurt any man's feelings by just seventy. 

128 



The Removal of Rosecrans. 

My opinion of Rosecrans and my fears that the army 
would soon be driven from Chattanooga by starvation, 
if not by the Confederates, I had reiterated in my letters 
to Mr. Stanton. On the morning of October 19th I 
received a dispatch from Mr. Stanton, sent from Wash- 
ington on October 16th, asking me to meet him that 
day at the Gait House in Louisville. I wired him that, 
unless he ordered to the contrary, Rosecrans would re- 
treat at once from Chattanooga, and then I started for 
Louisville. It was a hard trip by horseback over 
Walden's Ridge and through Jasper to Bridgeport, and 
the roads were not altogether safe. Ten days before 
this, in riding along the edge of a bank near the river 
shore, the earth had given way under my horse's hind 
feet, and he and I had been tumbled together down a 
bank, about fourteen feet high; we rolled over each 
other in the sand at the bottom. I got off with no worse 
injury than a bruise of my left shoulder and a slight 
crack on the back of my head from the horse's hind 
foot, which made the blood run a little. The roads 
over Walden Ridge and along the river were even worse 
now than when I got my tumble, and, besides, they 
were filled with wagons trying to get supplies to Chat- 
tanooga. It took at that time ten days for wagon teams 
to go from Stevenson, where we had a depot, to Chat- 
tanooga. Though subsistence stores were so nearly ex- 
hausted, the wagons were compelled to throw over- 
board portions of their precious cargo in order to get 
through. The returning trains were blockaded. On the 
17th of October five hundred teams were halted be- 
tween the mountain and the river without forage for 
10 129 



Recollections of the Civil IVar. 

the animals, and unable to move in any direction; the 
whole road was strewn with dead animals. 

The railway from Bridgeport to Nashville was not 
much more comfortable or safer than the road. Early 
in the month I had gone to Nashville on business, and 
had come back in a tremendous storm in a train of 
eighteen cars crowded with soldiers, and was twenty- 
six hours on the road instead of ten. On the present 
trip, however, I got along very well until within about 
eight miles from Nashville, when our train narrowly 
escaped destruction. A tie had been inserted in a 
cattle guard to throw the train down an embankment, 
but it had been calculated for a train going south, so 
that ours simply broke it off. From what we learned 
afterward, we thought it was intended for a train on 
which it was supposed General Grant was going to 
Bridgeport. 

My train was bound through to Louisville. Indeed, 
I think there was no one with me except the train hands 
and the engineer. We reached Nashville about ten 
o'clock on the night of October 20th, and there were 
halted. Directly there came in an officer — I think it 
was Lieutenant-Colonel Bowers, of General Grant's staff 
— who said: 

" General Grant wants to see you." 

This was the first that I knew Grant was in Ten- 
nessee. I got out of my train and went over to his. I 
hadn't seen him since we parted at Vicksburg. 

" I am going to interfere with your journey, Mr. 
Dana," he said as soon as I came in. " I have got the 
Secretary's permission to take you back with me to 

130 



The Removal of Rosecrans. 

Chattanooga. I want you to dismiss your train and 
get in mine; we will give you comfortable quarters." 

" General," I said, " did you ask the Secretary to 
let me go back with you? " 

" I did," he said; " I wanted to have you." 
So, of course, I went. On the way down he told 
me that he had been appointed to the command of the 
" Military Division of the Mississippi," with permission 
to leave Rosecrans in command of the Department of 
the Cumberland or to assign Thomas in his place. He 
had done the latter, he said, and had telegraphed 
Thomas to take charge of the army the night after Stan- 
ton, at Louisville, had received my dispatch of the 19th 
saying Rosecrans would retreat from Chattanooga un- 
less ordered to remain. Rosecrans was assigned to the 
Department of the Missouri, with headquarters at St. 
Louis. 



131 



CHAPTER X. 

CHATTANOOGA AND MISSIONARY RIDGE. 

Thomas succeeds Rosecrans in the Army of the Cumberland — Grant 
supreme at Chattanooga — A visit to the army at Knoxville — A 
Tennessee Unionist's family — Impressions of Burnside — Grant 
against Bragg at Chattanooga — The most spectacular fighting of 
the war — Watching the first day's battle — With Sherman the sec- 
ond day — The moonlight fight on Lookout Mountain — Sheridan's 
whisky flask — The third day's victory and the glorious spectacle 
it afforded — The relief of General Burnside. 

With Grant I left Nashville for the front on the 
morning of the 21st. We arrived safe in Bridgeport in 
the evening. The next morning, October 226., we left 
on horseback for Chattanooga by way of Jasper and 
Walden's Ridge. The roads were in such a condition 
that it was impossible for Grant, who was on crutches 
from an injury to his leg received by the fall of a horse 
in New Orleans some time before, to make the whole 
distance of fifty-five miles in one day, so I pushed on 
ahead, running the rebel picket lines, and reaching 
Chattanooga in the evening in company with Colonel 
Wilson, Grant's inspector general. 

The next morning I went to see General Thomas; it 
was not an official visit, but a friendly one, such a visit 
as I very often made on the generals. When we had 
shaken hands, he said: 

" Mr. Dana, you have got me this time; but there 

132 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

is nothing for a man to do in such a case as this but to 
obey orders." 

This was in allusion to his assignment to the com- 
mand of the Army of the Cumberland. The change in 
command was received with satisfaction by all intelli- 
gent officers, so far as I could ascertain, though, of 
course, Rosecrans had many friends who were unable 
to conceive why he was relieved. They reported that 
he was to be put in command of the Army of the Poto- 
mac. The change at headquarters was already strik- 
ingly perceptible, order prevailing instead of universal 
chaos. 

On the evening of the 23d Grant arrived, as I stated 
in my dispatch to Mr. Stanton, " wet, dirty, and well." 
The next morning he was out with Thomas and Smith 
to reconnoiter a position which the latter general had 
discovered at the mouth of Lookout Valley, which he 
believed, if it could be taken possession of and at the 
same time if Raccoon Mountain could be occupied, 
would give us Lookout Valley, and so enable us again 
to bring supplies up the river. In preparation for this 
movement, Smith had been getting bridges ready to 
throw across the river at the mouth of the valley, and 
been fitting up a steamer to use for supplies when we 
should control the river. 

The Confederates at that time were massed in Chat- 
tanooga Valley, south of Chattanooga. They held Mis- 
sionary Ridge to the east, and Lookout Mountain to 
the west. They had troops in Lookout Valley also, and 
their pickets extended westward over Raccoon Moun- 
tain to the river. South of the river, at Brown's Ferry, 

133 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

were several low mamelons. Smith's idea was to sur- 
prise the Confederate pickets here at night and seize 
the position in time to unite with Hooker, who in the 
meantime should be ordered up from Bridgeport by 
way of Shellmound, Whiteside, and Wauhatchie. That 
night Grant gave orders for the movement; in fact, he 
began it by sending Palmer's division across Walden's 
Ridge to Rankin's Ferry, where he was to cross and 
occupy Shellmound, thus guarding Hooker's rear. 
Hooker he ordered to march from Bridgeport on the 
morning of the 26th. 

I went to Bridgeport on the 25th to observe Hook- 
er's movement, but found he was not there, and would 
not be ready to march the next morning as ordered. 
Hooker came up from Stevenson to Bridgeport on the 
evening of the 26th. He was in an unfortunate state of 
mind for one who had to co-operate — fault-finding and 
criticising. No doubt it was true that the chaos of the 
Rosecrans administration was as bad as he described 
it to be, but he was quite as truculent toward the plan 
that he was now to execute as toward the impotence and 
confusion of the old regime. By the next morning he 
was ready to start, and the troops moved out for Shell- 
mound about half past six. By half past four in the 
afternoon we arrived at Whiteside Valley; thence the 
march was directly to Wauhatchie. Here there was an 
insignificant skirmish, which did not stop us long. By 
the afternoon of the 28th we were at the mouth of the 
Lookout Valley, where we found that General Smith, 
by an operation whose brilliancy can not be exag- 
gerated, had taken the mamelons south of the river. 

134 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

The only serious opposition to our occupancy of the 
position came that night, but the enemy was success- 
fully repulsed. 

Our forces now held Lookout Valley and controlled 
the river from Brown's Ferry to Bridgeport. The next 
day supplies were started up the river. At first they 
came no farther than Kelley's Ferry, which was about 
ten miles from Chattanooga. This was because the 
steamer at Bridgeport could not get through the Suck, 
an ugly pass in the mountains through which the river 
runs; but on the night of the 30th we succeeded in 
getting our steamer at Chattanooga past the pickets 
on Lookout Mountain and down to Brown's Ferry. 
She could pass the Suck, and after that supplies came 
by water to Brown's Ferry. 

Within a week after Grant's arrival we were receiv- 
ing supplies daily. There was no further danger of the 
Army of the Cumberland being starved out of Chatta- 
nooga. The Confederates themselves at once recog- 
nized this, for a copy of the Atlanta Appeal of Novem- 
ber 3d which reached me said that if we were not 
dislodged from Lookout Valley our possession of Chat- 
tanooga was secure for the winter. 

It was now certain that we could hold Chattanooga; 
but until Sherman reached us we could do nothing 
against the enemy and nothing to relieve Burnside, who 
had been ordered to unite with Rosecrans in August, 
but had never got beyond Knoxville. He was shut up 
there much in the same way as we were in Chattanooga, 
and it was certain that the Confederates were sending 
forces against him. 

135 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

The day after Grant arrived we had good evidence 
that the Confederates were moving in large force to 
the northeastward of Chattanooga, for heavy railroad 
trains went out in that direction and light ones returned. 
Deserters to us on the morning of the 25th reported 
that a large force was at Charleston, Tenn., and that 
fully five thousand mounted infantry had crossed the 
Tennessee River above Washington. That night it was 
noticed that the pickets on Lookout Mountain, and 
even down into the valley on the Chattanooga side, 
were much diminished. We judged from this that the 
enemy had withdrawn both from the top of the moun- 
tain and from the valley. There were other rumors of 
their movements toward Burnside during the next few 
days, and on November 6th some definite information 
came through a deserter, a Northern man who had 
lived in Georgia before the war and had been forced 
into the service. He reported that two divisions had 
moved up the Tennessee some time ago, and confirmed 
our suspicion that the troops had been withdrawn 
from Lookout Mountain. He said it was well under- 
stood among the Confederates that these forces 
were going by way of Loudon to join those which 
had already gone up the river, to co-operate with a 
force of Lee's army in driving Burnside out of East 
Tennessee. 

Grant's first move to meet this plan of the enemy 
was to direct Sherman, who had been trying to rebuild 
and hold the railroad from Memphis as he marched 
forward, to abandon this work and hasten up to Ste- 
venson. Grant then considered what movement could 

136 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

be made which would compel the enemy to recall the 
troops sent against Burnside. 

Grant was so anxious to know the real condition of 
Burnside that he asked me to go to Knoxville and 
find out. So on November 9th I started, accompanied 
by Colonel Wilson of Grant's staff. The way in which 
such a trip as this of Wilson and mine was managed 
in those days is told in this letter to a child, written just 
before we left Chattanooga for Knoxville: 

I expect to go all the way on horseback, and it will 
take about five days. About seventy horsemen will go 
along with their sabers and carbines to keep off the 
guerillas. Our baggage we shall have carried on pack 
mules. These are funny little rats of creatures, with the 
big panniers fastened to their sides to carry their bur- 
dens in. I shall put my bed in one pannier and my 
carpet bag and India-rubber things in the other. Colo- 
nel Wilson, who is to go with me, will have another 
mule for his traps, and a third will carry the bread and 
meat and coffee that we are to live on. At night we 
shall halt in some nice shady nook where there is a 
spring, build a big roaring fire, cook our supper, spread 
our blankets on the ground, and sleep with our feet 
toward the fire, while half a dozen of the soldiers, with 
their guns ready loaded, watch all about to keep the 
rebels at a safe distance. Then in the morning we shall 
first wake up, then wash our faces, get our breakfasts, 
and march on, like John Brown's soul, toward our 
destination. How long I shall stay at Knoxville is un- 
certain, but I hope not very long — though it must be 
very charming in that country of mountains and rivers 
— and then I shall pray for orders that will take me 
home again. 

We were not obliged to camp out every night on this 
trip. One evening, just about supper time, we reached 

137 



Recollections of the Civil JVar. 

a large stone house, the home of a farmer. The man, 
we found, was a strong Unionist, and he gave us a 
hearty invitation to occupy his premises. Our escort 
took possession of the barn for sleeping, and we cooked 
our supper in the yard, the family lending us a table and 
sending us out fresh bread. After supper Wilson and I 
were invited into the house, where the farmer listened 
eagerly to the news of the Union army. There were 
two or three young and very pretty girls in the farmer's 
family, and while we talked they dipped snuff, a peculiar 
custom that I had seen but once or twice before. 

We reached Knoxville on the 13th, and I at once 
went to headquarters to talk over the situation with 
Burnside. This was the first time I had met that gen- 
eral. He was rather a large man physically, about six 
feet tall, with a large face and a small head, and heavy 
side whiskers. He was an energetic, decided man, frank, 
manly, and well educated. He was a very showy officer 
— not that he made any show; he was naturally that. 
When he first talked with you, you would think he had 
a great deal more intelligence than he really possessed. 
You had to know him some time before you really took 
his measure. 

I found that Burnside's forces, something like thirty- 
three thousand men of all arms, were scattered all the 
way from Kentucky, by Cumberland Gap, down to 
Knoxville. In and about Knoxville he had not con- 
centrated more than twelve thousand to fourteen thou- 
sand men. The town was fortified, though unable to 
resist an attack by a large force. Up to this time Burn- 
side and his army had really been very well off, for he 

133 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

had commanded a rich region behind Knoxville, and 
thence had drawn food and forage. He even had about 
one hundred miles of railroad in active operation for 
foraging, and he had plenty of mills and workshops in 
the town which he could use. 

After a detailed conversation with Burnside, I con- 
cluded that there was no reason to believe that any 
force had been sent from Lee's army to attack him on 
the northeast, as we had heard in Chattanooga, but that 
it was certain that Longstreet was approaching from 
Chattanooga with thirty thousand troops. Burnside 
said that he would be unable long to resist such an at- 
tack, and that if Grant did not succeed in making a 
demonstration which would compel Longstreet to re- 
turn he must retreat. 

If compelled to retreat, he proposed, he said, to fol- 
low the line of Cumberland Gap, and to hold Morris- 
town and Bean's Station. At these points he would be 
secure against any force the enemy could bring against 
him; he would still be able to forage over a large ex- 
tent of country on the south and east, he could prevent 
the repair of the railroads by the rebels, and he would 
still have an effective hold on East Tennessee. 

A few hours after this talk with Burnside, about one 
o'clock in the morning of the 14th, a report reached 
Knoxville that completely upset his plan for retreating 
by Cumberland Gap. This was the news that the ene- 
my had commenced building bridges across the Ten- 
nessee near Loudon, only about twenty-five miles south 
of Knoxville. Burnside immediately decided that he 
must retreat; and he actually dictated orders for draw- 

139 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

ing his whole army south of the Holston into Blount 
County, where all his communications would have been 
cut off, and where on his own estimate he could not 
have subsisted more than three weeks. General Parke 
argued against this in vain, but finally Colonel Wilson 
overcame it by representing that Grant did not wish 
Burnside to include the capture of his entire army 
among the plans of his operations. He then deter- 
mined to retreat toward the gaps, after destroying the 
workshops and mills in Knoxville and on the line of 
his march. 

Before we left, however, which was about six o'clock 
in the morning of the 14th, General Burnside had begun 
to feel that perhaps he might not be obliged to pass 
the mountains and abandon East Tennessee entirely. 
He had even decided to send out a force to attack the 
enemy's advance. When Wilson and I reached Le- 
noir's Station that morning on our way to Chatta- 
nooga, we discovered that the enemy's attack was not 
as imminent as Burnside feared. Their bridges were 
not complete, and no artillery or cavalry had crossed. 
From everything I could learn of their strength, in fact, 
it seemed to me that there was a reasonable probability 
that Burnside would be able to hold Knoxville until re- 
lieved by operations at Chattanooga. 

We found that our departure from Knoxville had 
been none too soon. So completely were the Confed- 
erates taking possession of the country between Knox- 
ville and Chattanooga that had we delayed a single 
day we could have got out only through Cumberland 
Gap or that of Big Creek. We were four days in return- 

140 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

ing, and Mr. Stanton became very uneasy, as I learned 
from this dispatch received soon after my return: 

War Department, 
Washington, D. C, November ig, iS6j. 

Hon. C. A. Dana, Chattanooga. 

Your dispatches of yesterday are received. I am 
rejoiced that you have got safely back. My anxiety 
about you for several days had been very great. Make 
your arrangements to remain in the field during the 
winter. Continue your reports as frequently as pos- 
sible, always noting the hour. 

Edwin M. Stanton. 

Colonel Wilson and I reached Chattanooga on No- 
vember 17th. As soon as I arrived I went to Grant's 
and Thomas's headquarters to find out the news. There 
was the greatest hopefulness everywhere. Sherman, 
they told me, had reached Bridgeport, and a plan for 
attacking Bragg's position was complete and its exe- 
cution begun by moving a division of Sherman's army 
from Bridgeport to Trenton, where it ought to arrive 
that day, threatening the enemy by Stevens's Gap. The 
remainder of that army was to move into Lookout 
Valley by way of Whiteside, extending its lines up 
the valley toward Trenton, as if to repeat the flanking 
movement of Rosecrans when he followed Bragg across 
the Tennessee. Having drawn the enemy's attention to 
that quarter, Sherman was to disappear on the night 
of the 1 8th and encamp his forces behind the ridge of 
hills north of the Tennessee, opposite to Chattanooga, 
and keep them there out of sight of the enemy during 
the 19th. That same night a bridge was to be thrown 
across the river just below the mouth of Chickamauga 

141 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

Creek, so that on Saturday morning, November 20th, 
Sherman's command would be across before daylight, if 
possible. As soon as over he was to push for the head 
of Missionary Ridge, and there engage the enemy. 

At the same time that Sherman's wing advanced, 
Granger, with about eighteen thousand men, was to 
move up on the left of the Chattanooga lines and en- 
gage the Confederate right with all possible vigor. 
Hooker, who had been in the Lookout Valley ever since 
he joined the army in November, was to attack the 
head of Lookout Mountain simultaneously with Sher- 
man's attack at the head of Missionary Ridge, and, if 
practicable, to carry the mountain. 

It is almost never possible to execute a campaign 
as laid out, especially when it requires so many con- 
certed movements as this one. Thus, instead of all of 
Sherman's army crossing the Tennessee on the night 
of the 1 8th, and getting out of sight as expected be- 
hind the hills that night, a whole corps was left behind 
at daylight, and one division had to march down the 
valley on the morning of the 20th in full view of the 
enemy, who now understood, of course, that he was to 
be attacked. Bragg evidently did not care to risk a 
battle, for he tried to alarm Grant that afternoon by 
sending a flag over, and with it a letter, saying, " As 
there may still be some non-combatants in Chattanooga, 
I deem it proper to notify you that prudence would 
dictate their early withdrawal." Of course, we all knew 
this was a bluff. 

On the morning of the 20th a heavy rain began, 
which lasted two days and made the roads so bad that 

142 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

Sherman's advance was almost stopped. His march 
was still further retarded by a singular blunder which had 
been committed in moving his forces from Bridgeport. 
Instead of moving all the troops and artillery first, 
the numerous trains which had been brought from West 
Tennessee were sent in front rather than in rear of each 
division. Grant said the blunder was his; that he should 
have given Sherman explicit orders to leave his wagons 
behind; but no one was so much astonished as Grant 
on learning that they had not been left, even without 
such orders. 

Owing to these unforeseen circumstances, Sher- 
man's rear was so far behind on the morning of the 
23d, three days after Grant had planned for the attack, 
that it was doubtful whether he could be ready to join 
the movement the next day, November 24th. It was 
also feared that the enemy, who had seen the troops 
march through Lookout Valley and then disappear, 
might have discovered where they were concealed, and 
thus surmise our movements. 

On account of these hitches in carrying out the 
operations as speedily as Grant had hoped, it was not 
until November 23d that the first encounter in the bat- 
tle of Chattanooga occurred. It was the beginning of 
the most spectacular military operations I ever saw — 
operations extending over three days and full of the 
most exciting incidents. 

Our army lay to the south and east of the town of 
Chattanooga, the river being at our back. Facing us, in 
a great half circle, and high above us on Lookout Moun- 
tain and Missionary Ridge, were the Confederates. Our 

143 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

problem was to drive them from these heights. We 
had got our men well together, all the re-enforcements 
were up, and now we were to strike. 

The first thing Grant tried to do was to clear out 
the Confederate lines which were nearest to ours on the 
plain south of Chattanooga, and to get hold of two bald 
knobs, or low hills, where Bragg's forces had their ad- 
vance guard. As the entire field where this attack was 
to be made was distinctly visible from one of our forts, 
I went there on the 23d with the generals to watch the 
operations. The troops employed for the attack were 
under the immediate orders of Gordon Granger. There 
were some capital officers under Granger, among them 
Sheridan, Hazen, and T. J. Wood. Just before one 
o'clock the men moved out of their intrenchments, and 
remained in line for three quarters of an hour in full view 
of the enemy. The spectacle was one of singular mag- 
nificence. 

Our point of view was Fort Wood. Usually in a 
battle one sees only a little corner of what is going on, 
the movements near where you happen to be; but in 
the battle of Chattanooga we had the whole scene be- 
fore us. At last, everything being ready, Granger gave 
the order to advance, and three brigades of men pushed 
out simultaneously. The troops advanced rapidly, with 
all the precision of a review, the flags flying and the 
bands playing. The first sign of a battle one noticed 
was the fire spitting out of the rifles of the skirmishers. 
The lines moved steadily along, not halting at all, the 
skirmishers all the time advancing in front, firing and 
receiving fire. 

144 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

The first shot was fired at two o'clock, and in five 
minutes Hazen's skirmishers were briskly engaged, while 
the artillery of Forts Wood and Thomas was opening 
upon the rebel rifle-pits and camps behind the line of 
fighting. The practice of our gunners was splendid, but 
it elicited no reply from the camps and batteries of the 
enemy, about a mile and three quarters distant; and it 
was soon evident that the Confederates had no heavy 
artillery, in that part of their lines at least. Our troops, 
rapidly advancing toward the knobs upon which they 
were directed, occupied them at twenty minutes past 
two. Ten minutes later Samuel Beatty, who com- 
manded a brigade, driving forward across an open 
field, carried the rifle-pits in his front, the occupants 
fleeing as they fired their last volley; and Sheridan, 
moving through the forest which stretched before him, 
drove in the enemy's pickets. Sheridan halted his ad- 
vance, in obedience to orders, on reaching the rifle-pits, 
where the rebel force was waiting for his attack. No 
such attack was made, however, the design being to 
secure only the height. The entire movement was 
carried out in such an incredibly short time that at half 
past three I was able to send a telegram to Mr. Stan- 
ton describing the victory. 

We took about two hundred prisoners, mostly Ala- 
bama troops, and had gained a position which would 
be of great importance should the enemy still attempt 
to hold the Chattanooga Valley. With these heights 
in our possession, a column marching to turn Mission- 
ary Ridge was secure from flank attack. The Confed- 
erates fired three small guns only during the affair, and 
ii 145 



Recollections of the Civil TVar. 

that tended to confirm the impression that they had 
withdrawn their main force. About four o'clock in the 
afternoon the enemy opened fire from the top of Mis- 
sionary Ridge, the total number of cannon they dis- 
played being about twelve, but nothing was developed 
to show decisively whether they would fight or flee. 
Grant thought the latter; other judicious officers the 
former. 

That evening I left Chattanooga to join General 
Sherman, who had his troops north of the river con- 
cealed behind the hills, and ready to attempt to cross 
the Tennessee that very night, so as to be able to at- 
tack the east head of Missionary Ridge on the night of 
the 24th or the morning of the 25th. 

Sherman had some twenty-five thousand men, and 
crossing them over a river as wide and rapid as the Ten- 
nessee was above Chattanooga seemed to me a serious 
task, and I watched the operations of the night with 
great curiosity. The first point was to get a sufficient 
body of troops on the south bank to hold a position 
against the enemy (the Confederates had pickets for a 
long distance up and down the Tennessee, above Chat- 
tanooga), and then from there commence building the 
pontoon bridge by which the bulk of the men were to 
be got over. 

1 

About one o'clock in the morning the pontoon boats, 
which had been sent up the river some distance, were 
filled with men and allowed to drop down to the point 
General Sherman had chosen for the south end of his 
bridge. They landed about 2.30 in the morning, seized 
the pickets, and immediately began to fortify their posi- 

146 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

tion. The boats in the meantime were sent across the 
river to bring over fresh loads of men. They kept this 
up until morning. Then a small steamer which Sher- 
man had got hold of came up and began to bring over 
troops. At daybreak some of the boats were taken 
from the ferrying and a bridge was begun. It was mar- 
velous with what vigor the work went on. Sherman 
told me he had never seen anything done so quietly 
and so well, and he declared later in his report that he 
did not believe the history of war could show a bridge 
of that length — about thirteen hundred and fifty feet — k 
laid down so noiselessly and in so short a time. By 
one o'clock in the afternoon (November 24th) the bridge 
was done, and the balance of his forces were soon 
marching briskly across. As soon as Sherman saw that 
the crossing was insured, he set the foremost of his 
column in motion for the head of Missionary Ridge. 
By four o'clock he had gained the crest of the ridge 
and was preparing for the next day's battle. 

As soon as I saw Sherman in position, I hurried back 
to Chattanooga. I reached there just in time to see the 
famous moonlight battle on Lookout Mountain. The 
way this night battle happened to be fought was that 
Hooker, who had been holding Lookout Valley, had 
been ordered to gain a foothold on Lookout Mountain 
if possible, and that day, while I was with Sherman, had 
really succeeded in scaling the side of the mountain. 
But his possession of the point he had reached had been 
so hotly disputed that a brigade had been sent from 
Chattanooga to aid him. These troops attacked the 
Confederate lines on the eastern slope of the mountain 

147 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

about eight o'clock that evening. A full moon made 
the battlefield as plain to us in the valley as if it were 
day, the blaze of their camp fires and the flashes of their 
guns displaying brilliantly their position and the prog- 
ress of their advance. No report of the result was re- 
ceived that night, but the next morning we knew that 
Bragg had evacuated Lookout Mountain the night be- 
fore, and that our troops occupied it. 

After the successes of the two days a decisive battle 
seemed inevitable, and orders were given that night 
for a vigorous attack the next morning. I was up early, 
sending my first dispatch to Mr. Stanton at half past 
seven o'clock. As the result of the operations of the 
day before, Grant held the point of Lookout Mountain 
on the southwest and the crest of the east end of Mis- 
sionary Ridge, and his line was continuous between 
these points. As the result of the movement on Novem- 
ber 23d, our lines in front had been advanced to Or- 
chard Knob. The bulk of the Confederate force was 
intrenched along Missionary Ridge, five to six hundred 
feet above us, and facing our center and left. From 
Chattanooga we could see the full length of our own 
and the enemy's lines spread out like a scene in a 
theater. 

About nine o'clock the battle was commenced on 
Sherman's line on our left, and it raged furiously all 
that forenoon both east of Missionary Ridge and along 
its crest, the enemy making vigorous efforts to crush 
Sherman and dislodge him from his position on the 
ridge. All day, while this battle was going on, I was at 
Orchard Knob, where Grant, Thomas, Granger, and 

148 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

several other officers were observing the operations. 
The enemy kept firing shells at us, I remember, from the 
ridge opposite. They had got the range so well that 
the shells burst pretty near the top of the elevation 
where we were, and when we saw them coming we 
would duck — that is, everybody did except Generals 
Grant and Thomas and Gordon Granger. It was not 
according to their dignity to go down on their mar- 
row bones. While we were there Granger got a can- 
non — how he got it I do not know — and he would 
load it with the help of one soldier and fire it himself 
over at the ridge. I recollect that Rawlins was very 
much disgusted at the guerilla operations of Granger, 
and induced Grant to order him to join his troops 
elsewhere. 

As we thought we perceived, soon after noon, that 
the enemy had sent a great mass of their troops to crush 
Sherman, Grant gave orders at two o'clock for an as- 
sault upon the left of their lines; but owing to the fault 
of Granger, who was boyishly intent upon firing his 
gun instead of commanding his corps, Grant's order was 
not transmitted to the division commanders until he 
repeated it an hour later. 

It was fully four o'clock before the line moved out 
to the attack. It was a bright, sunny afternoon, and, 
as the forces marched across the valley in front of us as 
regularly as if on parade, it was a great spectacle. They 
took with ease the first rifle-pits at the foot of the ridge 
as they had been ordered, and then, to the amazement 
of all of us who watched on Orchard Knob, they moved 
out and up the steep ahead of them, and before we real- 

149 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

ized it they were at the top of Missionary Ridge. It 
was just half past four when I wired to Mr. Stanton: 

Glory to God! the day is decisively ours. Mission- 
ary Ridge has just been carried by the magnificent 
charge of Thomas's troops, and the rebels routed. 

As soon as Grant saw the ridge was ours, he started 
for the front. As he rode the length of the lines, the 
men, who were frantic with joy and enthusiasm over the 
victory, received him with tumultuous shouts. The 
storming of the ridge by our troops was one of the 
greatest miracles in military history. No man who 
climbs the ascent by any of the roads that wind along 
its front can believe that eighteen thousand men were 
moved in tolerably good order up its broken and crumb- 
ling face unless it was his fortune to witness the deed. 
It seemed as awful as a visible interposition of God. 
Neither Grant nor Thomas intended it. Their orders 
were to carry the rifle-pits along the base of the ridge 
and capture their occupants; but when this was accom- 
plished, the unaccountable spirit of the troops bore them 
bodily up those impracticable steeps, in spite of the 
bristling rifle-pits on the crest, and the thirty cannons 
enfilading every gully. The order to storm appears to 
have been given simultaneously by Generals Sheridan 
and Wood because the men were not to be held back, 
dangerous as the attempt appeared to military pru- 
dence. Besides, the generals had caught the inspira- 
tion of the men, and were ready themselves to under- 
take impossibilities. 

The first time I saw Sheridan after the battle I said 
to him, " Why did you go up there? " 

150 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

" When I saw the men were going up," he replied, 
" I had no idea of stopping them; the rebel pits had 
been taken and nobody had been hurt, and after they 
had started I commanded them to go right on. I 
looked up at the head of the ridge as I was going up, 
and there I saw a Confederate general on horseback. 
I had a silver whisky flask in my pocket, and when I 
saw this man on the top of the hill I took out my flask 
and waved my hand toward him, holding up the shin- 
ing, glittering flask, and then I took a drink. He 
waved back to me, and then the whole corps went up." 

All the evening of the 25th the excitement of the 
battle continued. Bragg had retreated down the Chicka- 
mauga Valley and was burning what he could not carry 
away, so that the east was lit by his fires, while Sheridan 
continued his fight along the east slope of Missionary 
Ridge until nine o'clock in the evening. It was a bright 
moonlight night, and we could see most of the opera- 
tions as plainly as by day. The next morning Bragg 
was in full retreat. I went to Missionary Ridge in the 
morning, and from there I could see along ten miles 
of Chickamauga Valley the fires of the depots and 
bridges he was burning as he fled. 

At intervals throughout the day I sent dispatches to 
Washington, where they were eagerly read, as the fol- 
lowing telegram sent me on the 27th shows: 

War Department, 
Washington City, November 27, 1863. 

Hon. C. A. Dana, Chattanooga, Tenn.: 

The Secretary of War is absent and the President 
is sick, but both receive your dispatches regularly and 

151 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

esteem them highly, not merely because they are re- 
liable, but for their clearness of narrative and their 
graphic pictures of the stirring events they describe. 

The patient endurance and spirited valor exhibited 
by commanders and men in the last great feat of arms, 
which has crowned our cause with such a glorious suc- 
cess, is making all of us hero worshipers. 

P. H. Watson, 
Acting Secretary of War. 

The enemy was now divided. Bragg was flying 
toward Rome and Atlanta, and Longstreet was in East 
Tennessee besieging Burnside. Our victorious army 
was between them. The first thought was, of course, to 
relieve Burnside, and Grant ordered Granger with the 
Fourth Corps instantly forward to his aid, taking pains 
to write Granger a personal letter, explaining the ex- 
igencies of the case and the imperative need of energy. 
It had no effect, however, in hastening the movement, 
and a day or two later Grant ordered Sherman to as- 
sume command of all the forces operating from the 
south to save Knoxville. Grant became imbued with a 
strong prejudice against Granger from this circum- 
stance. 

As any movement against Bragg was impracticable 
at that season, the only operations possible to Grant, 
beyond the relief of Burnside, were to hold Chattanooga 
and the line of the Hiwassee, to complete and protect 
the railroads and the steamboats upon the Tennessee, 
and to amass food, forage, and ordnance stores for the 
future. But all this would require only a portion of 
the forces under his command; and, instead of holding 
the remainder in winter quarters, he evolved a plan to 

152 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

employ them in an offensive winter campaign against 
Mobile and the interior of Alabama. He asked me to 
lay his plan before Mr. Stanton, and urge its approval 
by the Government, which, of course, I did at once by 
telegraph. 

I did not wait at Chattanooga to learn the decision 
of the Government on Grant's plan, but left on Novem- 
ber 29th, again with Colonel Wilson, to join Sherman, 
now well on his way to Knoxville, and to observe his 
campaign. 

I fell in with Sherman on November 30th at Charles- 
ton, on the Hiwassee. The Confederate guard there 
fled at his approach, after half destroying the bridges, 
and we had to stay there until one was repaired. When 
we reached Loudon, on December 3d, the bridge over 
the Tennessee was gone, so that the main body of the 
army marched to a point where it was believed a prac- 
ticable ford might be found. The ford, however, proved 
too deep for the men, the river being two hundred yards 
wide, and the water almost at freezing point. We had 
a great deal of fun getting across. I remember my 
horse went through — swam through, where his feet 
could not strike the ground — and I got across without 
any difficulty. I think Wilson got across, too; but 
when the lieutenant of our squad of cavalrymen got in 
the middle of the river, where it was so deep that as he 
sat in the saddle the water came up to his knees almost, 
and a little above the breast of the mule he rode, the 
animal turned his head upward toward the current, 
at that place very strong, and would not stir. This 
poor fellow sat there in the middle of the stream, and, 

153 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

do his best, he could not move his beast. Finally, they 
drove in a big wagon, or truck, with two horses, and 
tied that to the bits of the mule, and dragged him out. 

Colonel Wilson at once set about the construction of 
a trestle bridge, and by working all night had it so ad- 
vanced that the troops could begin to cross by daylight 
the next morning. 

While the crossing was going on, we captured a 
Confederate mail, and first learned something authentic 
about Burnside. He had been assailed by Longstreet 
on the 29th of November, but had repulsed him. He 
was still besieged, and all the letter writers spoke of the 
condition in the town with great despondency, evidently 
regarding their chance of extrication as very poor. 
Longstreet, we gathered from the mail, thought that 
Sherman was bringing up only a small force. 

By noon of December 5th we had our army over, 
and, as we were now only thirty-five miles from Knox- 
ville, we pushed ahead rapidly, the enemy making but 
little resistance. When Longstreet discovered the 
strength of our force he retreated, and we entered Knox- 
ville at noon on the 6th. We found to our surprise 
that General Burnside had fully twenty days' provi- 
sions — much more, in fact, than at the beginning of 
the siege. These supplies had been drawn from the 
French Broad by boats, and by the Sevierville road. 
The loyal people of East Tennessee had done their 
utmost through the whole time to send in provisions 
and forage, and Longstreet left open the very avenues 
which Burnside most desired. We found ammunition 
very short, and projectiles for our rifle guns had been 

154 



Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. 

made in the town. The utmost constancy and unanim- 
ity had prevailed during the whole siege, from Burn- 
side down to the last private; no man thought of re- 
treat or surrender. 

The next morning after our arrival, December 7th, 
Sherman started back to Chattanooga with all his force 
not needed there. Colonel Wilson and I returned with 
him, reaching Chattanooga on December 10th. 

Everything in the army was now so safe, quiet, and 
regular that I felt I could be more useful anywhere else, 
so the day I got back I asked leave of Mr. Stanton to 
go North. I did not wait for his reply, however. The 
morning of the 12th Grant sent for me to come to his 
headquarters, and asked me to go to Washington to 
represent more fully to Stanton and Halleck his wishes 
with regard to the winter campaign. As the matter was 
important, I started at once, telegraphing Mr. Stanton 
that, if he thought it unnecessary for me to go, orders 
would reach me at any point on the railroad. 



155 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE WAR DEPARTMENT IN WAR TIMES. 

Grant's plans blocked by Halleck — Mr. Dana on duty at Washington — 
Edwin McMasters Stanton — His deep religious feeling — His swift 
intelligence and almost superhuman energy — The Assistant Secre- 
tary's functions — Contract supplies and contract frauds — Lincoln's 
intercession for dishonest contractors with political influence — A 
characteristic letter from Sherman. 

I reached Washington about the middle of Decem- 
ber, and immediately gave to Mr. Stanton an outline 
of Grant's plan and reasons for a winter campaign. 
The President, Mr. Stanton, and General Halleck all 
agreed that the proposed operations were the most 
promising in sight; indeed, Mr. Stanton was enthusi- 
astic in favor of the scheme as I presented it to him. 
He said that the success of Grant's campaign would 
end the war in the Mississippi Valley, and practically 
make prisoners of all the rebel forces in the interior of 
Mississippi and Alabama, without our being at the di- 
rect necessity of guarding and feeding them. But 
Halleck, as a sine qua non, insisted that East Tennessee 
should first be cleared out and Longstreet driven off 
permanently and things up to date secured, before new 
campaigns were entered upon. 

The result was that no winter campaign was made in 

156 



The War Department in IV ar 'Times. 

1863-64 toward the Alabama River towns and Mobile. 
Its success, in my opinion, was certain, and I so repre- 
sented to Mr. Stanton. Without jeoparding our in- 
terests in any other quarter, Grant would have opened 
the Alabama River and captured Mobile a full year be- 
fore it finally fell. Its success meant permanent secur- 
ity for everything we had already laid hold of, at once 
freeing many thousands of garrison troops for serv- 
ice elsewhere. As long as the rebels held Alabama, 
they had a base from which to strike Tennessee. I had 
unbounded confidence in Grant's skill and energy to 
conduct such a campaign into the interior, cutting loose 
entirely from his base and subsisting off the enemy's 
country. At the time he had the troops, and could 
have finished the job in three months. 

After I had explained fully my mission from Grant, 
I asked the Secretary what he wanted me to do. Mr. 
Stanton told me he would like to have me remain in 
the department until I was needed again at the front. 
Accordingly, an office in the War Department was pro- 
vided for me, and I began to do the regular work of 
an assistant to the Secretary of War. This was the 
first time since my relations with the War Department 
began that I had been thrown much with the Secretary, 
and I was very glad to have an opportunity to observe 
him. 

Mr. Stanton was a short, thick, dark man, with a 
very large head and a mass of black hair. His nature 
was intense, and he was one of the most eloquent men 
that I ever met. Stanton was entirely absorbed in his 
duties, and his energy in prosecuting them was some- 

157 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

thing - almost superhuman. When he took hold of the 
War Department the armies seemed to grow, and they 
certainly gained in force and vim and thoroughness. 

One of the first things which struck me in Mr. Stan- 
ton was his deep religious feeling and his familiarity 
with the Bible. He must have studied the Bible a great 
deal when he was a boy. He had the firmest conviction 
that the Lord directed our armies. Over and over 
again have I heard him express the same opinion which 
he wrote to the Tribune after Donelson: " Much has 
recently been said of military combinations and organ- 
izing victory. I hear such phrases with apprehension. 
They commenced in infidel France with the Italian 
campaign, and resulted in Waterloo. Who can organ- 
ize victory? Who can combine the elements of suc- 
cess on the battlefield? We owe our recent victories 
to the Spirit of the Lord, that moved our soldiers to 
rush into battle, and filled the hearts of our enemies 
with dismay. The inspiration that conquered in battle 
was in the hearts of the soldiers and from on high; and 
wherever there is the same inspiration there will be the 
same results." There was never any cant in Stanton's 
religious feeling. It was the straightforward expression 
of what he believed and lived, and was as simple and 
genuine and real to him as the principles of his busi- 
ness. 

Stanton was a serious student of history. He had 
read many books on the subject — more than on any 
other, I should say — and he was fond of discussing his- 
torical characters with his associates; not that he made 
a show of his learning. He was fond, too, of discussing 

158 



The IVar Department in War T^imes. 

legal questions, and would listen with eagerness to the 
statement of cases in which friends had been interested. 
He was a man who was devoted to his friends, and he 
had a good many with whom he liked to sit down and 
talk. In conversation he was witty and satirical; he 
told a story well, and was very companionable. 

There is a popular impression that Mr. Stanton took 
a malevolent delight in browbeating his subordinates, 
and even,- now and then making a spectacle of some 
poor officer or soldier, who unfortunately fell into his 
clutches in the Secretary's reception room, for the edi- 
fication of bystanders. This idea, like many other false 
notions concerning great men, is largely a mistaken 
one. The stories which are told of Mr. Stanton's im- 
patience and violence are exaggerated. He could speak 
in a very peremptory tone, but I never heard him say 
anything that could be called vituperative. 

There were certain men in whom he had little faith, 
and I have heard him speak to some of these in a tone 
of severity. He was a man of the quickest intelligence, 
and understood a thing before half of it was told him. 
His judgment was just as swift, and when he got hold 
of a man who did not understand, who did not state 
his case clearly, he was very- impatient. 

If Stanton liked a man, he was always pleasant. I 
was with him for several vears in the most confidential 
relations, and I can now recall only one instance of his 
speaking to me in a harsh tone. It was a curious case. 
Among the members of Congress at that period was a 
Jew named Strouse. One of Strouse's race, who lived 
in Virginia, had gone down to the mouth of the James 

*59 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

River when General Butler was at Fortress Monroe, 
and had announced his wish to leave the Confederacy. 
Now, the orders were that when a man came to a com- 
manding officer with a request to go through the lines, 
he was to be examined and all the money he had was 
to be taken from him. General Butler had taken from 
this Virginian friend of Strouse between fifty thousand 
and seventy-five thousand dollars. When a general 
took money in this way he had to deposit it at once in 
the Treasury; there a strict account was kept of the 
amount, whom it was taken by, and whom it was taken 
from. Butler gave a receipt to this man, and he after- 
ward came to Washington to get his money. He and 
Strouse came to the War Department, where they 
bothered Mr. Stanton a good deal. Finally, Mr. Stan- 
ton sent for me. 

" Strouse is after me," he said ; " he wants that 
money, and I want you to settle the matter." 

" What shall I do? " I asked ; " what are the or- 
ders? ' : He took the papers in the case and wrote on 
the back of them: 

Referred to Mr. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, 
to be settled as in his judgment shall be best. 

E. M. Stanton. 

The man then turned his attention from the Secre- 
tary to me. I looked into the matter, and gave him 
back the money. The next day Mr. Stanton sent for 
me. I saw he was angry. 

" Did you give that Jew back his money? " he asked 
in a harsh tone. 

"Yes, sir." 

160 



The War Department in War Times. 

" Well," he said, " I should like to know by what 
authority you did it." 

" If you will excuse me while I go to my room, I 
will show my authority to you," I replied. 

So I went up and brought down the paper he had 
indorsed, and read to him: 

" Referred to Mr. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, 
to be settled as in his judgment shall be best." Then I 
handed it over to him. He looked at it, and then he 
laughed. 

"You are right," he said; "you have got me this 
time." That was the only time he spoke to me in a 
really harsh tone. 

At the time that I entered the War Department for 
regular duty, it was a very busy place. Mr. Stanton 
frequently worked late at night, keeping his carriage 
waiting for him. I never worked at night, as my eyes 
would not allow it. I got to my office about nine 
o'clock in the morning, and I stayed there nearly the 
whole day, for I made it a rule never to go away until 
my desk was cleared. When I arrived I usually found 
on my table a big pile of papers which were to be acted 
on, papers of every sort that had come to me from the 
different departments of the office. 

The business of the War Department during the 
first winter that I spent in Washington was something 
enormous. Nearly $285,000,000 was paid out that 
year (from June, 1863, to June, 1864) by the quarter- 
master's office, and $221,000,000 stood in accounts at 
the end of the year awaiting examination before pay- 
ment was made. We had to buy every conceivable 
" 161 



* 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

thing that an army of men could need. We bought fuel, 
forage, furniture, coffins, medicine, horses, mules, tele- 
graph wire, sugar, coffee, flour, cloth, caps, guns, pow- 
der, and thousands of other things. Sometimes our 
supplies came by contract; again by direct purchase; 
again by manufacture. Of course, by the fall of 1863 
the army was pretty well supplied; still, that year we 
bought over 3,000,000 pairs of trousers, nearly 5,000,- 

000 flannel shirts and drawers, some 7,000,000 pairs of 
stockings, 325,000 mess pans, 207,000 camp kettles, 
over 13,000 drums, and 14,830 fifes. It was my duty 
to make contracts for many of these supplies. 

In making contracts for supplies of all kinds, we 
were obliged to take careful precautions against frauds. 

1 had a colleague in the department, the Hon. Peter 
H. Watson, the distinguished patent lawyer, who had 
a great knack at detecting army frauds. One which 
Watson had spent much time in trying to ferret out 
came to light soon after I went into office. This was 
an extensive fraud in forage furnished to the Army of 
the Potomac. The trick of the fraud consisted in a dis- 
honest mixture of oats and Indian corn for the horses 
and mules of the army. By changing the proportions 
of the two sorts of grain, the contractors were able to 
make a considerable difference in the cost of the bushel, 
on account of the difference in the weight and price 
of the grain, and it was difficult to detect the cheat. 
However, Watson found it out, and at once arrested 
the men who were most directly involved. 

Soon after the arrest Watson went to New York. 
While he was gone, certain parties from Philadelphia 

162 



The War Department in War Times. 

interested in the swindle came to me at the War De- 
partment. Among them was the president of the Corn 
Exchange. They paid me thirty-three thousand dollars 
to cover the sum which one of the men confessed he 
had appropriated; thirty-two thousand dollars was the 
amount restored by another individual. The morning 
after this transaction the Philadelphians returned to me, 
demanding both that the villains should be released, and 
that the papers and funds belonging to them, taken 
at the time of their arrest, should be restored. It was 
my judgment that, instead of being released, they should 
be remanded to solitary confinement until they could 
clear up all the forage frauds and make complete justice 
possible. Then I should have released them, but not 
before. So I telegraphed to Watson what had hap- 
pened, and asked him to return to prevent any false 
step. 

Now, it happened that the men arrested were of 
some political importance in Pennsylvania, and emi- 
nent politicians took a hand in getting them out of 
the scrape. Among others, the Hon. David Wilmot, 
then Senator of the United States and author of the 
famous Wilmot proviso, was very active. He went to 
Mr. Lincoln and made such representations and appeals 
that finally the President consented to go with him 
over to the War Department and see Watson in his 
office. Wilmot remained outside, and Mr. Lincoln 
went in to labor with the Assistant Secretary. Wat- 
son eloquently described the nature of the fraud, and 
the extent to which it had already been developed 
by his partial investigation. The President, in reply, 

163 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

dwelt upon the fact that a large amount of money had 
been refunded by the guilty men, and urged the greater 
question of the safety of the cause and the necessity 
of preserving united the powerful support which Penn- 
sylvania was giving to the administration in suppress- 
ing the rebellion. Watson answered: 

" Very well, Mr. President, if you wish to have these 
men released, all that is necessary is to give the order; 
but I shall ask to have it in writing. In such a case as 
this it would not be safe for me to obey a verbal order; 
and let me add that if you do release them the fact and 
the reason will necessarily become known to the 
people." 

Finally Mr. Lincoln took up his hat and went out. 
Wilmot was waiting in the corridor, and came to meet 
him. 

" Wilmot," he said, " I can't do anything with Wat- 
son; he won't release them." 

The reply which the Senator made to this remark 
can not be printed here, but it did not affect the judg- 
ment or the action of the President. 

The men were retained for a long time afterward. 
The fraud was fully investigated, and future swindles 
of the kind were rendered impossible. If Watson could 
have had his way, the guilty parties — and there were 
some whose names never got to the public — would 
have been tried by military commission and sternly 
dealt with. But my own reflections upon the subject 
led me to the conclusion that the moderation of the 
President was wiser than the unrelenting justice of the 
Assistant Secretary would have been. 

164 



'The War Department in IVar 'Times. 

Not a little of my time at the department was taken 
up with people who had missions of some kind within 
the lines of the army. I remember one of these par- 
ticularly, because it brought me a characteristic letter 
from General Sherman. There was much suffering 
among the loyal citizens and the Quakers of East Ten- 
nessee in the winter of 1863-64, and many relief com- 
mittees came to us seeking transportation and safe con- 
duct for themselves and their supplies into that coun- 
try. Some of these were granted, to the annoyance of 
General Sherman, then in command of the Military 
Division of the Mississippi. The reasons for his objec- 
tions he gave in this letter to me: 

Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, 

Nashville, Tenn., April 21, 1864. 

C. A. Dana, Esq., Ass't Sec. of War, Washington. 

My dear Friend: It may be parliamentary, but is 
not military, for me to write you; but I feel assured 
anything I may write will only have the force of a casual 
conversation, such as we have indulged in by the camp 
fire or as we jogged along by the road. The text of 
my letter is one you gave a Philadelphia gentleman who 
is going up to East Tennessee to hunt up his brother 
Quakers and administer the bounties of his own and his 
fellow-citizens' charity. Now who would stand in the 
way of one so kindly and charitably disposed? Surely 
not I. But other questions present themselves. We 
have been working hard with tens of thousands of men, 
and at a cost of millions of dollars, to make railroads to 
carry to the line of the Tennessee enough provisions 
and material of war to enable us to push in our physical 
force to the next stop in the war. I have found on 
personal inspection that hitherto the railroads have 
barely been able to feed our men, that mules have died 
by the thousand, that arms and ammunition had [have] 

165 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

laid in the depot for two weeks for want of cars, that no 
accumulation at all of clothing and stores had been 
or could be moved at Chattanooga, and that it took 
four sets of cars and locomotives to accommodate the 
passes given by military commanders; that gradually 
the wants of citizens and chanties were actually con- 
suming the real resources of a road designed exclusively 
for army purposes. You have been on the spot and 
can understand my argument. At least one hundred 
citizens daily presented good claims to go forward — 
women to attend sick children, parents in search of the 
bodies of some slain in battle, sanitary committees sent 
by States and corporations to look after the personal 
wants of their constituents, ministers and friends to min- 
ister to the Christian wants of their flocks; men who 
had fled, anxious to go back to look after lost families, 
etc.; and, more still, the tons of goods which they all 
bore on their merciful errands. None but such as you, 
who have been present and seen the tens, hundreds, 
and thousands of such cases, can measure them in the 
aggregate and segregate the exceptions. 

I had no time to hesitate, for but a short month was 
left me to prepare, and I must be ready to put in motion 
near one hundred thousand men to move when naught 
remains to save life. I figured up the mathematics, and 
saw that I must have daily one hundred and forty-five 
car loads of essentials for thirty days to enable me to 
fill the requirement. Only seventy-five daily was all 
the roads were doing. Now I have got it up to one 
hundred and thirty-five. Troops march, cattle go by 
the road, sanitary and sutler's stores limited, and all is 
done that human energy can accomplish. Yet come 
these pressing claims of charity, by men and women 
who can not grasp the great problem. My usual answer 
is, " Show me that your presence at the front is more 
valuable than two hundred pounds of powder, bread, 
or oats"; and it is generallv conclusive. I have given 
Mr. Savery a pass on your letter, and it takes two hun- 
dred pounds of bread from our soldiers, or the same 

166 



The War Department in War Himes. 

of oats from our patient mules; but I could not promise 
to feed the suffering Quakers at the expense of our 
army. I have ordered all who can not provide food 
at the front to be allowed transportation back in our 
empty cars; but I can not undertake to transport the 
food needed by the worthy East Tennesseeans or any 
of them. In peace there is a beautiful harmony in all 
the departments of life — they all fit together like the 
Chinese puzzle; but in war all is ajar. Nothing fits, 
and it is the struggle between the stronger and weaker; 
and the latter, however it may appeal to the better feel- 
ings of our nature, must kick the beam. To make war 
we must and will harden our hearts. 

Therefore, when preachers clamor and the sanitaries 
wail, don't join in, but know that war, like the thun- 
derbolt, follows its laws, and turns not aside even if the 
beautiful, the virtuous, and charitable stand in its path. 

When the day and the hour comes, I'll strike Joe 
Johnston, be the result what it may; but in the time al- 
lotted to me for preparation I must and will be selfish 
in making those preparations which I know to be neces- 
sary. Your friend, 

W. T. Sherman, Major General. 



167 



CHAPTER XII. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS CABINET. 

Daily intercourse with Lincoln — The great civil leaders of the period 
— Seward and Chase — Gideon Welles — Friction between Stanton 
and Blair — Personal traits of the President — Lincoln's surpassing 
ability as a politician — His true greatness of character and intel- 
lect — His genius for military judgment — Stanton's comment on 
the Gettysburg speech — The kindness of Abraham Lincoln's heart. 

During the first winter I spent in Washington in 
the War Department I had constant opportunities of 
seeing Mr. Lincoln, and of conversing with him in the 
cordial and unofficial manner which he always preferred. 
Not that there was ever any lack of dignity in the man. 
Even in his freest moments one always felt the presence 
of a will and of an intellectual power which maintained 
the ascendancy of his position. He never posed, or put 
on airs, or attempted to make any particular impression; 
but he was always conscious of his own ideas and pur- 
poses, even in his most unreserved moments. 

I knew, too, and saw frequently, all the members 
of his Cabinet. When Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated as 
President, his first act was to name his Cabinet; and 
it was a common remark at the time that he had put 
into it every man who had competed with him for the 
nomination. The first in importance was William H. 
Seward, of New York, Mr. Lincoln's most prominent 

168 



Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. 

competitor. Mr. Seward was made Secretary of State. 
He was an interesting man, of an optimistic tempera- 
ment, and he probably had the most cultivated and 
comprehensive intellect in the administration. He was 
a man who was all his life in controversies, yet he was 
singular in this, that, though forever in fights, he had 
almost no personal enemies. Seward had great abil- 
ity as a writer, and he had what is very rare in a lawyer, 
a politician, or a statesman — imagination. A fine illus- 
tration of his genius was the acquisition of Alaska. That 
was one of the last things that he did before he went 
out of office, and it demonstrated more than anything 
else his fixed and never-changing idea that all North 
America should be united under one government. 

Mr. Seward was an admirable writer and an impres- 
sive though entirely unpretentious speaker. He stood 
up and talked as though he were engaged in conversa- 
tion, and the effect was always great. It gave the im- 
pression of a man deliberating " out loud " with him- 
self. 

The second man in importance and ability to be put 
into the Cabinet was Mr. Chase, of Ohio. He was an 
able, noble, spotless statesman, a man who would have 
been worthy of the best days of the old Roman repub- 
lic. He had been a candidate for the presidency, though 
a less conspicuous one than Seward. Mr. Chase was a 
portly man; tall, and of an impressive appearance, with 
a very handsome, large head. He was genial, though 
very decided, and occasionally he would criticise the 
President, a thing I never heard Mr. Seward do. Chase 
had been successful in Ohio politics, and in the Treasury 

169 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

Department his administration was satisfactory to the 
public. He was the author of the national banking law. 
I remember going to dine with him one day — I did 
that pretty often, as I had known him well when I was 
on the Tribune — and he said to me: " I have completed 
to-day a very great thing. I have finished the National 
Bank Act. It will be a blessing to the country long after 
I am dead." 

The Secretary of the Navy throughout the war was 
Gideon Welles, of Connecticut. Welles was a curious- 
looking man: he wore a wig which was parted in the 
middle, the hair falling down on each side; and it was 
from his peculiar appearance, I have always thought, 
that the idea that he was an old fogy originated. I re- 
member Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, coming 
into my office at the War Department one day and ask- 
ing where he could find " that old Mormon deacon, the 
Secretary of the Navy." In spite of his peculiarities, I 
think Mr. Welles was a very wise, strong man. There 
was nothing decorative about him; there was no noise 
in the street when he went along; but he understood 
his duty, and did it efficiently, continually, and unvary- 
ingly. There was a good deal of opposition to him, for 
we had no navy when the war began, and he had to 
create one without much deliberation; but he was pa- 
tient, laborious, and intelligent at his task. 

Montgomery Blair was Postmaster-General in Mr. 
Lincoln's Cabinet. He was a capable man, sharp, keen, 
perhaps a little cranky, and not friendly with everybody; 
but I always found him pleasant to deal with, and I saw 
a great deal of him. He and Mr. Stanton were not very 

170 



Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. 

good friends, and when he wanted anything in the War 
Department he was more likely to come to an old friend 
like me than to go to the Secretary. Stanton, too, 
rather preferred that. 

The Attorney-General of the Cabinet was Edward 
Bates, of Missouri. Bates had been Mr. Greeley's fa- 
vorite candidate for the presidency. He was put into 
the Cabinet partly, I suppose, because his reputation 
was good as a lawyer, but principally because he had 
been advocated for President by such powerful influ- 
ences. Bates must have been about sixty-eight years 
old when he was appointed Attorney-General. He was 
a very eloquent speaker. Give him a patriotic subject, 
where his feelings could expand, and he would make 
a beautiful speech. He was a man of very gentle, cor- 
dial nature, but not one of extraordinary brilliancy. 

The relations between Mr. Lincoln and the mem- 
bers of his Cabinet were always friendly and sincere on 
his part. He treated every one of them with unvarying 
candor, respect, and kindness; but, though several of 
them were men of extraordinary force and self-asser- 
tion — this was true especially of Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, 
and Mr. Stanton — and though there was nothing of self- 
hood or domination in his manner toward them, it was 
always plain that he was the master and they the sub- 
ordinates. They constantly had to yield to his will in 
questions where responsibility fell upon him. If he ever 
yielded to theirs, it was because they convinced him 
that the course they advised was judicious and appro- 
priate. I fancied during the whole time of my intimate 
intercourse with him and with them that he was always 

171 



Recollections of the Civil JVar. 

prepared to receive the resignation of any one of them. 
At the same time I do not recollect a single occasion 
when any member of the Cabinet had got his mind 
ready to quit his post from any feeling of dissatisfaction 
with the policy or conduct of the President. Not that 
they were always satisfied with his actions; the mem- 
bers of the Cabinet, like human beings in general, were 
not pleased with everything. In their judgment much 
was imperfect in the administration; much, they felt, 
would have been done better if their views had been 
adopted and they individually had had charge of it. 
Not so with the President. He was calm, equable, un- 
complaining. In the discussion of important questions, 
whatever he said showed the profoundest thought, even 
when he was joking. He seemed to see every side of 
every question. He never was impatient, he never was 
in a hurry, and he never tried to hurry anybody else. To 
every one he was pleasant and cordial. Yet they all 
felt it was his word that went at last; that every case 
was open until he gave his decision. 

This impression of authority, of reserve force, Mr. 
Lincoln always gave to those about him. Even phys- 
ically he was impressive. According to the record meas- 
urements, he was six feet four inches in height. That 
is, he was at least four inches taller than the tall, ordi- 
nary man. When he rode out on horseback to review 
an army, as I have frequently seen him do, he wore usu- 
ally a high hat, and then he looked like a giant. There 
was no waste or excess of material about his frame; 
nevertheless, he was very strong and muscular. I re- 
member that the last time I went to see him at the White 

172 



Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. 

House — the afternoon before he was killed — I found 
him in a side room with coat off and sleeves rolled up, 
washing his hands. He had finished his work for the 
day, and was going away. I noticed then the thinness 
of his arms, and how well developed, strong, and active 
his muscles seemed to be. In fact, there was nothing 
flabby or feeble about Mr. Lincoln physically. He was 
a very quick man in his movements when he chose to 
be, and he had immense physical endurance. Night 
after night he would work late and hard without being 
wilted by it, and he always seemed as ready for the next 
day's work as though he had done nothing the day 
before. 

Mr. Lincoln's face was thin, and his features were 
large. His hair was black, his eyebrows heavy, his fore- 
head square and well developed. His complexion was 
dark and quite sallow. His smile was something most 
lovely. I have never seen a woman's smile that ap- 
proached it in its engaging quality; nor have I ever seen 
another face which would light up as Mr. Lincoln's 
did when something touched his heart or amused him. 
I have heard it said that he was ungainly, that his step 
was awkward. He never impressed me as being awk- 
ward. In the first place, there was such a charm and 
beauty about his expression, such good humor and 
friendly spirit looking from his eyes, that when you were 
near him you never thought whether he was awkward 
or graceful; you thought of nothing except, What a 
kindly character this man has! Then, too, there was 
such shrewdness in his kindly features that one did not 
care to criticise him. His manner was always dignified, 

* 173 



Recollections of the Civil JVar, 

and even if he had done an awkward thing the dignity 
of his character and manner would have made it seem 
graceful and becoming. 

The great quality of his appearance was benevolence 
and benignity: the wish to do somebody some good if 
he could ; and yet there was no flabby philanthropy 
about Abraham Lincoln. He was all solid, hard, keen 
intelligence combined with goodness. Indeed, the ex- 
pression of his face and of his bearing which impressed 
one most, after his benevolence and benignity, was his 
intelligent understanding. You felt that here was a 
man who saw through things, who understood, and 
you respected him accordingly. 

Lincoln was a supreme politician. He understood 
politics because he understood human nature. I had 
an illustration of this in the spring of 1864. The admin- 
istration had decided that the Constitution of the United 
States should be amended so that slavery should be pro- 
hibited. This was not only a change in our national 
policy, it was also a most important military measure. 
It was intended not merely as a means of abolishing 
slavery forever, but as a means of affecting the judg- 
ment and the feelings and the anticipations of those in 
rebellion. It was believed that such an amendment to 
the Constitution would be equivalent to new armies in 
the field, that it would be worth at least a million men, 
that it would be an intellectual army that would tend to 
paralyze the enemy and break the continuity of his 
ideas. 

In order thus to amend the Constitution, it was 
necessary first to have the proposed amendment ap- 

174 



Ahrahaffi Lincoln and his Cabinet. 

proved by three fourths of the States. When that ques- 
tion came to be considered, the issue was seen to be so 
close that one State more was necessary. The State of 
Nevada was organized and admitted into the Union 
to answer that purpose. I have sometimes heard people 
complain of Nevada as superfluous and petty, not big 
enough to be a State; but when I hear that complaint, 
I always hear Abraham Lincoln saying, " It is easier 
to admit Nevada than to raise another million of sol- 
diers." 

In March, 1864, the question of allowing Nevada 
to form a State government finally came up in the 
House of Representatives. There was strong opposi- 
tion to it. For a long time beforehand the question 
had been canvassed anxiously. At last, late one after- 
noon, the President came into my office, in the third 
story of the War Department. He used to come there 
sometimes rather than send for me, because he was fond 
of walking and liked to get away from the crowds in 
the White House. He came in and shut the door. 

" Dana," he said, " I am very anxious about this 
vote. It has got to be taken next week. The time is 
very short. It is going to be a great deal closer than I 
wish it was." 

" There are plenty of Democrats who will vote for 
it," I replied. " There is James E. English, of Con- 
necticut; I think he is sure, isn't he? " 

" Oh, yes; he is sure on the merits of the question." 

" Then," said I, " there's ' Sunset ' Cox, of Ohio. 
How is he? " 

" He is sure and fearless. But there are some others 

175 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

that I am not clear about. There are three that you can 
deal with better than anybody else, perhaps, as you 
know them all. I wish you would send for them." 

He told me who they were; it isn't necessary to re- 
peat the names here. One man was from New Jersey 
and two from New York. 

" What will they be likely to want? " I asked. 

" I don't know," said the President; " I don't know. 
It makes no difference, though, what they want. Here 
is the alternative: that we carry this vote, or be com- 
pelled to raise another million, and I don't know how 
many more, men, and fight no one knows how long. 
It is a question of three votes or new armies." 

" Well, sir," said I, " what shall I say to these gen- 
tlemen? " 

"I don't know," said he; "but whatever promise 
you make to them I will perform." 

I sent for the men and saw them one by one. I 
found that they were afraid of their party. They said 
that some fellows in the party would be down on them. 
Two of them wanted internal revenue collector's ap- 
pointments. " You shall have it," I said. Another one 
wanted a very important appointment about the custom 
house of New York. I knew the man well whom he 
wanted to have appointed. He was a Republican, 
though the congressman was a Democrat. I had served 
with him in the Republican county committee of New 
York. The office was worth perhaps twenty thousand 
dollars a year. When the congressman stated the case, 
I asked him, " Do you want that? " 

" Yes," said he. 

176 



Ahraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. 






Well," I answered, " you shall have it." 
I understand, of course," said he, " that you ar3 
not saying this on your own authority? " 

" Oh, no," said I; " I am saying it on the authority 
of the President." 

Well, these men voted that Nevada be allowed to 
form a State government, and thus they helped secure 
the vote which was required. The next October the 
President signed the proclamation admitting the State. 
In the February following Nevada was one of the States 
which ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, by which 
slavery was abolished by constitutional prohibition in 
all of the United States. I have always felt that this 
little piece of side politics was one of the most judicious, 
humane, and wise uses of executive authority that I 
have ever assisted in or witnessed. 

The appointment in the New York Custom House 
was to wait until the term of the actual incumbent had 
run out. My friend, the Democratic congressman, was 
quite willing. "That's all right," he said; "I am in 
no hurry." Before the time had expired, Mr. Lincoln 
was murdered and Andrew Johnson became President. 
I was in the West, when one day I got a telegram 
from Roscoe Conkling: 

" Come to Washington." So I went. 

" I want you to go and see President Johnson," Mr. 
Conkling said, " and tell him that the appointment of 
this man to the custom house is a sacred promise of 
Mr. Lincoln's, and that it must be kept." 

Then I went to the White House, and saw President 
Johnson. 

13 177 



Recollections of the Civil U r ar. 

" This is Mr. Lincoln's promise," I urged. " He 
regarded it as saving the necessity of another call for 
troops and raising, perhaps, a million more men to 
continue the war. I trust, Mr. President, that you will 
see your way clear to execute this promise." 

" Well, Mr. Dana," he replied, " I don't say that I 
won't; but I have observed in the course of my experi- 
ence that such bargains tend to immorality." 

The appointment was not made. I am happy to say, 
however, that the gentleman to whom the promise was 
given never found any fault either with President Lin- 
coln or with the Assistant Secretary who had been the 
means of making the promise to him. 

One of the cleverest minor political moves which 
Mr. Lincoln ever made was an appointment he once 
gave Horace Greeley. Mr. Greeley never approved of 
Mr. Lincoln's manner of conducting the war, and he 
sometimes abused the President roundly for his delib- 
eration. As the war went on, Greeley grew more and 
more irritable, because the administration did not make 
peace on some terms. Finally, in July, 1864, he received 
a letter from a pretended agent of the Confederate au- 
thorities in Canada, saying: 

I am authorized to state to you for our use only, not 
the public, that two ambassadors of Davis and Company 
are now in Canada with full and complete powers for a 
peace, and Mr. Sanders requests that you come on im- 
mediately to me at Cataract House to have a private 
interview; or, if you will send the President's protection 
for him and two friends, they will come on and meet 
you. He says the whole matter can be consummated 
by me, them, and President Lincoln. 

178 



Ahraliam Lincoln and his Cabinet. 

This letter was followed the next day by a telegram, 
saying : " Will you come here? Parties have full 
power." 

Upon receiving this letter, Mr. Greeley wrote to 
President Lincoln, more or less in the strain of the arti- 
cles that he had published in the Tribune. He com- 
plained bitterly of the way the business of the Govern- 
ment was managed in the great crisis, and told the Presi- 
dent that now there was a way open to peace. He ex- 
plained that the Confederates wanted a conference, and 
he told Mr. Lincoln that he thought that he ought to 
appoint an ambassador, or a diplomatic agent, of the 
United States Government, to meet the Confederate 
agents at Niagara and hear what they had to say. Mr. 
Lincoln immediately responded by asking Mr. Greeley 
to be himself the representative and to go to Niagara 
Falls. 

" If you can find any person anywhere," the Presi- 
dent wrote, " professing to have any proposition of Jef- 
ferson Davis, in writing, for peace, embracing the 
restoration of the Union, and abandonment of slavery, 
whatever else it embraces, say to him he may come to 
me with you, and that if he really brings such proposi- 
tion he shall at the least have safe conduct with the 
paper (and without publicity, if he chooses) to the point 
where you shall have met him. The same, if there be 
two or more persons." 

Mr. Greeley went to Niagara, but his mission ended 
in nothing, except that the poor man, led astray by too 
great confidence, failed in his undertaking, and was 
almost universally laughed at. I saw the President not 

179 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

long after that, and he said, with a funny twinkle in his 
eye: " I sent Brother Greeley a commission. I guess 
I am about even with him now." 

Lincoln had the most comprehensive, the most ju- 
dicious mind; he was the least faulty in his conclusions 
of any man I have ever known. He never stepped too 
soon, and he never stepped too late. When the whole 
Northern country seemed to be clamoring for him to 
issue a proclamation abolishing slavery, he didn't do 
it. Deputation after deputation went to Washington. 
I remember once a hundred gentlemen, dressed in black 
coats, mostly clergymen, from Massachusetts, came to 
Washington to appeal to him to proclaim the abolition 
of slavery. But he did not do it. He allowed Mr. 
Cameron and General Butler to execute their great idea 
of treating slaves as contraband of war and protecting 
those who had got into our lines against being recap- 
tured by their Southern owners; but he would not pre- 
maturely make the proclamation that was so much de- 
sired. Finally the time came, and of that he was the 
judge. Nobody else decided it; nobody commanded 
it ; the proclamation was issued as he thought best, and 
it was efficacious. The people of the North, who dur- 
ing the long contest over slavery had always stood 
strenuously by the compromises of the Constitution, 
might themselves have become half rebels if this proc- 
lamation had been issued too soon. At last they were 
tired of waiting, tired of endeavoring to preserve even 
a show of regard for what was called " the compromises 
of the Constitution " when they believed the Constitu- 
tion itself was in danger. Thus public opinion was ripe 

1 80 



Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. 

when the proclamation came, and that was the begin- 
ning of the end. He could have issued this proclama- 
tion two years before, perhaps, and the consequence of 
it might have been our entire defeat; but when it came 
it did its work, and it did us no harm whatever. No- 
body protested against it, not even the Confederates 
themselves. 

This unerring judgment, this patience which waited 
and which knew when the right time had arrived, is an 
intellectual quality that I do not find exercised upon 
any such scale and with such absolute precision by any 
other man in history. It proves Abraham Lincoln to 
have been intellectually one of the greatest of rulers. If 
we look through the record of great men, where is 
there one to be placed beside him? I do not know. 

Another interesting fact about Abraham Lincoln 
is that he developed into a great military man; that Is 
to say, a man of supreme military judgment. I do not 
risk anything in saying that if one will study the records 
of the war and study the writings relating to it, he will 
agree with me that the greatest general we had, greater 
than Grant or Thomas, was Abraham Lincoln. It was 
not so at the beginning; but after three or four years 
of constant practice in the science and art of war, he 
arrived at this extraordinary knowledge of it, so that 
Von Moltke was not a better general, or an abler plan- 
ner or expounder of a campaign, than was President 
Lincoln. To sum it up, he was a born leader of men. 
He knew human nature; he knew what chord to strike, 
and was never afraid to strike it when he believed that 
the time had arrived. 

181 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

Mr. Lincoln was not what is called an educated man. 
In the college that he attended a man gets up at day- 
light to hoe corn, and sits up at night by the side of a 
burning pine-knot to read the best book he can find. 
What education he had, he had picked up. He had read 
a great many books, and all the books that he had 
read he knew. He had a tenacious memory, just as he 
had the ability to see the essential thing. He never 
took an unimportant point and went off upon that; but 
he always laid hold of the real question, and attended 
to that, giving no more thought to other points than 
was indispensably necessary. 

Thus, while we say that Mr. Lincoln was an unedu- 
cated man in the college sense, he had a singularly per- 
fect education in regard to everything that concerns the 
practical affairs of life. His judgment was excellent, and 
his information was always accurate. He knew what 
the thing was. He was a man of genius, and contrasted 
with men of education the man of genius will always 
carry the day. Many of his speeches illustrate this. 

I remember very well Mr. Stanton's comment on the 
Gettysburg speeches of Edward Everett and Mr. Lin- 
coln. " Edward Everett has made a speech," he said, 
" that will make three columns in the newspapers, and 
Mr. Lincoln has made a speech of perhaps forty or fifty 
lines. Everett's is the speech of a scholar, polished to 
the last possibility. It is elegant, and it is learned; but 
Lincoln's speech will be read by a thousand men where 
one reads Everett's, and will be remembered as long 
as anybody's speeches are remembered who speaks in 
the English language." 

182 



Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. 

That was the truth. Who ever thinks of or reads 
Everett's Gettysburg speech now? If one will com- 
pare those two speeches he will get an idea how superior 
genius is to education; how superior that intellectual 
faculty is which sees the vitality of a question and knows 
how to state it; how superior that intellectual faculty 
is which regards everything with the fire of earnestness 
in the soul, with the relentless purpose of a heart de- 
voted to objects beyond literature. 

Another remarkable peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln's 
was that he seemed to have no illusions. He had no 
freakish notions that things were so, or might be so, 
when they were not so. All his thinking and reason- 
ing, all his mind, in short, was based continually upon 
actual facts, and upon facts of which, as I said, he saw 
the essence. I never heard him say anything that was 
not so. I never heard him foretell things; he told what 
they were, but I never heard him intimate that such 
and such consequences were likely to happen without 
the consequences following. I should say, perhaps, that 
his greatest quality was wisdom. And that is some- 
thing superior to talent, superior to education. It is 
again genius; I do not think it can be acquired. All 
the advice that he gave was wise, and it was always 
timely. This wisdom, it is scarcely necessary to add, 
had its animating philosophy in his own famous words, 
" With malice toward none, with charity for all." 

Another remarkable quality of Mr. Lincoln was his 
great mercifulness. A thing it seemed as if he could 
not do was to sign a death warrant. One day General 
Augur, who was the major general commanding the 

183 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

forces in and around Washington, came to my office and 
said: 

" Here is So-and-So, a spy. He has been tried by 
court-martial; the facts are perfectly established, he has 
been sentenced to death, and here is the warrant for his 
execution, which is fixed for to-morrow morning at six 
o'clock. The President is away. If he were here, the 
man certainly wouldn't be executed. He isn't here. I 
think it very essential to the safety of the service and 
the safety of everything that an example should be 
made of this spy. They do us great mischief; and it is 
very important that the law which all nations recognize 
in dealing with spies, and the punishment which every 
nation assigns to them, should be inflicted upon at least 
one of these wretches who haunt us around Washing- 
ton. Do you know whether the President will be back 
before morning? " 

" I understand that he won't be back until to-mor- 
row afternoon," I replied. 

" Well, as the President is not here, will you sign 
the warrant? " 

" Go to Mr. Stanton," I said; " he is the authority." 

" I have been to him, and he said I should come to 
you." 

Well, I signed the order; I agreed with General 
Augur in his view of the question. At about eleven 
o'clock the next day I met the general. " The President 
got home at two o'clock this morning," he said, " and 
he stopped it all." 

But it was not only in matters of life and death that 
Mr. Lincoln was merciful. He was kind at heart to- 

184 



Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. 

ward all the world. I never heard him say an unkind 
thing about anybody. Now and then he would laugh 
at something jocose or satirical that somebody had done 
or said, but it was always pleasant humor. He would 
never allow the wants of any man or woman to go unat- 
tended to if he could help it. I noticed his sweetness 
of nature particularly with his little son, a child at that 
time perhaps seven or nine years old, who used to roam 
the departments and whom everybody called " Tad." 
He had a defective palate, and couldn't speak very 
plainly. Often I have sat by his father, reporting to him 
some important matter that I had been ordered to in- 
quire into, and he would have this boy on his knee. 
While he would perfectly understand the report, the 
striking thing about him was his affection for the child. 
He was good to everybody. Once there was a great 
gathering at the White House on New Year's Day, and 
all the diplomats came in their uniforms, and all the 
officers of the army and navy in Washington were in 
full costume. A little girl of mine said, " Papa, couldn't 
you take me over to see that? " I said, " Yes "; so I 
took her over and put her in a corner, where she be- 
held this gorgeous show. When it was finished, I went 
up to Mr. Lincoln and said, " I have a little girl here 
who wants to shake hands with you." He went over 
to her, and took her up and kissed her and talked to 
her. She will never forget it if she lives to be a thou- 
sand years old. 



185 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC IN '64. 

Mr. Lincoln sends Mr. Dana again to the front — General Halleck's char- 
acter — First visit to the Army of the Potomac — General Meade's 
good qualities and bad — Winfield Scott Hancock — Early acquaint- 
ance with Sedgwick — His death — Humphreys's accomplishments 
as a soldier and as a swearer — Grant's plan of campaign against 
Lee — Incidents at Spottsylvania — The " Bloody Angle." 

I remained in Washington the entire winter of 
1&63-64, occupied mainly with the routine business of 
the department. Meantime the Chattanooga victory- 
had made Grant the great military figure of the coun- 
try, and deservedly so. The grade of lieutenant gen- 
eral had been immediately revived by act of Congress, 
and the President had promptly promoted him to the 
new rank, and made him general in chief of all the 
armies of the United States. His military prestige was 
such that everything was put into his hands, everything 
yielded to his wishes. The coming of Grant was a great 
relief to the President and the Secretary. Halleck, the 
late general in chief, consented to serve as Grant's chief 
of staff in Washington, practically continuing his old 
service of chief military adviser to the President and the 
Secretary of War, while Grant took the field in active 
direction of operations against Richmond. 

186 



The Army of the Potomac in 1864. 

Halleck was not thought to be a great man in the 
field, but he was nevertheless a man of military ability, 
and by reason of his great accomplishments in the tech- 
nics of armies and of war was almost invaluable as an 
adviser to the civilians Lincoln and Stanton. He was 
an honest man, perhaps somewhat lacking in moral 
courage, yet earnest and energetic in his efforts to sus- 
tain the national government. I have heard Halleck 
accused of being unjust to his inferiors in rank, espe- 
cially to Grant. I believe this wrong. I never thought 
him unjust to anybody. He always had his own ideas, 
and insisted strenuously on following his own course, 
but I never detected a sign of injustice in his conduct 
toward others. I think this false impression came from 
the fact that he was a very critical man. The first im- 
pulse of his mind toward a new plan was not enthusiasm; 
it was analysis, criticism. His habit of picking men 
and manners to pieces to see what they were worth gave 
the idea that he was unjust and malicious toward cer- 
tain of his subordinates. 

It was March when Grant came to Washington to 
receive his new grade of lieutenant general. Soon after- 
ward he joined the Army of the Potomac. On the 4th 
of May he had moved out from Culpeper, where the 
army had been in winter quarters since the previous 
December, and crossed the Rapidan with an effective 
force of one hundred and twenty thousand men. Gen- 
eral Lee, his opponent, had about seventy thousand. 

For two days after Grant moved we had no authentic 
reports from the army, although it was known that great 
events were occurring. Mr. Stanton and Mr. Lincoln 

187 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

had begun to get uneasy. The evening of May 6th 
I was at a reception when a messenger came with sum- 
mons to the War Department. I hurried over to the 
office in evening dress. The President was there, talk- 
ing very soberly with Stanton. 

" Dana," said Mr. Lincoln, " you know we have 
been in the dark for two days since Grant moved. We 
are very much troubled, and have concluded to send 
you down there. How soon can you start? " 

" In half an hour," I replied. 

In about that time I had an engine fired up at Alex- 
andria, and a cavalry escort of a hundred men awaiting 
me there. I had got into my camp clothes, had bor- 
rowed a pistol, and with my own horse was aboard the 
train at Maryland Avenue that was to take me to Alex- 
andria. My only baggage was a tooth-brush. I was 
just starting when an orderly galloped up with word 
that the President wished to see me. I rode back to 
the department in hot haste. Mr. Lincoln was sitting 
in the same place. 

" Well, Dana," said he, looking up, " since you went 
away I've been thinking about it. I don't like to send 
you down there." 

" But why not, Mr. President? " I asked, a little sur- 
prised. 

" You can't tell," continued the President, " just 
where Lee is or what he is doing, and Jeb Stuart is ram- 
paging around pretty lively in between the Rappahan- 
nock and the Rapidan. It's a considerable risk, and I 
don't like to expose you to it." 

" Mr. President," I said, " I have a cavalry guard 

188 



The Army of the Potomac in 1864. 

ready and a good horse myself. If we are attacked, we 
probably will be strong enough to fight. If we are not 
strong enough to fight, and it comes to the worst, we 
are equipped to run. It's getting late, and I want to 
get down to the Rappahannock by daylight. I think 
I'll start." 

" Well, now, Dana," said the President, with a little 
twinkle in his eyes, " if you feel that way, I rather wish 
you would. Good night, and God bless you." 

By seven o'clock on the morning of May 7th I was 
at the Rappahannock, where I found a rear guard of the 
army. I stopped there for breakfast, and then hurried 
on to Grant's headquarters, which were at Piney Branch 
Meeting House. There I learned of the crossing of the 
Rapidan by our army, and of the desperate battle of 
the Wilderness on May 5th and 6th. 

The Army of the Potomac was then composed of 
the Second, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Army Corps, and 
of one cavalry corps. In command of the army was 
Major-General George C. Meade. He was a tall, thin 
man, rather dyspeptic, I should suppose from the fits 
of nervous irritation to which he was subject. He was 
totally lacking in cordiality toward those with whom he 
had business, and in consequence was generally disliked 
by his subordinates. With General Grant Meade got 
along always perfectly, because he had the first virtue 
of a soldier — that is, obedience to orders. He was an 
intellectual man, and agreeable to talk with when his 
mind was free, but silent and indifferent to everybody 
when he was occupied with that which interested him. 

As a commander, Meade seemed to me to lack the 

189 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

boldness that was necessary to bring the war to a close. 
He lacked self-confidence and tenacity of purpose, and 
he had not the moral authority that Grant had attained 
from his grand successes in other fields. As soon as 
Meade had a commander over him he was all right, but 
when he himself was the commander he began to hesi- 
tate. Meade had entirely separate headquarters and a 
separate staff, and Grant sent his orders to him. 

In command of the Second Army Corps was Major- 
General W. S. Hancock. He was a splendid fellow, 
a brilliant man, as brave as Julius Caesar, and always 
ready to obey orders, especially if they were fighting 
orders. He had more of the aggressive spirit than al- 
most anybody else in that army. Major-General G. K. 
Warren, who commanded the Fifth Army Corps, was 
an accomplished engineer. Major-General John Sedg- 
wick commanded the Sixth Army Corps. I had known 
him for over twenty years. Sedgwick graduated at 
West Point in 1837, and was appointed a second lieu- 
tenant in the Second Artillery. At the time of the Mc- 
Kenzie rebellion in Canada Sedgwick's company was 
stationed at Buffalo during a considerable time. I was 
living in Buffalo then, and in this rebellion the young 
men of the town organized a regiment of city guards, 
and I was a sergeant in one of those companies, so that 
I became quite familiar with all the military movements 
then going on. Then it was that I got acquainted with 
Sedgwick. He was a very solid man; no flummery 
about him. You could always tell where Sedgwick 
was to be found, and in a battle he was apt to be found 
where the hardest fighting was. He was not an ardent, 

190 



The Army of the Potomac in 1864. 

impetuous soldier like Hancock, but was steady and 
sure. 

Two days after I reached the army, on May 9th, 
not far from Spottsylvania Courthouse, my old friend 
Sedgwick was killed. He had gone out in the morning 
to inspect his lines, and, getting beyond the point of 
safety, was struck in the forehead by a sharpshooter and 
instantly killed. The command of the Sixth Army Corps 
was given to General H. G. Wright. Wright was an- 
other engineer officer, well educated, of good, solid in- 
tellect, with capacity for command, but no special 
predilection for righting. From the moment Meade 
assumed command of the army, two days before Gettys- 
burg, the engineers rapidly came to the front, for Meade 
had the pride of corps strongly implanted in his heart. 

Major-General Burnside, whom I had last seen at 
Knoxville in December, was in command of the Ninth 
Army Corps. Immediately after the siege of Knox- 
ville, at his own request, Burnside had been relieved 
of the command in East Tennessee by Major-General 
John G. Foster. The President somehow always showed 
for Burnside great respect and good will. After Grant's 
plans for the spring campaign were made known, the 
Ninth Corps was moved by rail to Annapolis, where it 
w r as recruited up to about twenty-five thousand men. 
As the time for action neared it was set in motion, and 
by easy marches reached and re-enforced the Army of 
the Potomac on the morning of the 6th of May, in the 
midst of the battle of the Wilderness. It was not for- 
mally incorporated with that army until later, but, by 
a sort of fiction, it was held to be a distinct army, Burn- 

191 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

side acting in concert with Meade, and receiving his 
orders directly from Grant, as did Meade. These two 
armies were the excuse for Grant's personal presence, 
without actually superseding Meade. 

In my opinion, the great soldier of the Army of 
the Potomac at this time was General Humphreys. He 
was the chief of staff to General Meade, and was a strate- 
gist, a tactician, and an engineer. Humphreys was a 
fighter, too, and in this an exception to most engineers. 
He was a very interesting figure. He used to ride about 
in a black felt hat, the brim of which was turned down 
all around, making him look like a Quaker. He was 
very pleasant to deal with, unless you were fighting 
against him, and then he was not so pleasant. He was 
one of the loudest swearers that I ever knew. The men 
of distinguished and brilliant profanity in the war were 
General Sherman and General Humphreys — I could not 
mention any others that could be classed with them. 
General Logan also was a strong swearer, but he was 
not a West Pointer: he was a civilian. Sherman and 
Humphreys would swear to make everything blue when 
some dispatch had not been delivered correctly or they 
were provoked. Humphreys was a very charming man, 
quite destitute of vanity. I think he had consented to 
go and serve with Meade as chief of staff out of pure 
patriotism. He preferred an active command, and 
eventually, on the eve of the end, succeeded to the com- 
mand of the Second Corps, and bore a conspicuous part 
in the Appomattox campaign. 

Meade was in command of the Army of the Poto- 
mac, but it was Grant, the lieutenant general of the 

192 



The Army of the Potomac in 1864. 

armies of the United States, who was really directing 
the movements. The central idea of the campaign had 
not developed to the army when I reached headquar- 
ters, but it was soon clear to everybody. Grant's great 
operation was the endeavor to interpose the Federal 
army between Lee's army and Richmond, so as to cut 
Lee off from his base of supplies. He meant to get 
considerably in advance of Lee — between him and Rich- 
mond — thus compelling Lee to leave his intrenchments 
and hasten southward. If in the collision thus forced 
Grant found that he could not smash Lee, he meant to 
make another move to get behind his army. That was 
to be the strategy of the campaign of 1864. That was 
what Lee thwarted, though he had a narrow escape 
more than once. 

The first encounter with Lee had taken place in the 
Wilderness on May 5th and 6th. The Confederates and 
many Northern writers love to call the Wilderness a 
drawn battle. It was not so; in every essential light 
it was a Union victory. Grant had not intended to 
fight a battle in those dense, brushy jungles, but Lee 
precipitated it just as he had precipitated the battle of 
Chancellorsville one year before, and not six miles to 
the eastward of this very ground. In doing so he hoped 
to neutralize the superior numbers of Grant as he had 
Hooker's, and so to mystify and handle the Union leader 
as to compel a retreat across the Rapidan. But he 
failed. Some of the fighting in the brush was a draw, 
but the Union army did not yield a rood of ground; 
it held the roads southward, inflicted great losses on 
its enemy, and then, instead of recrossing the river, re- 
14 193 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

sumed its march toward Richmond as soon as Lee's 
attacks had ceased. Lee had palpably failed in his ob- 
jects. His old-time tactics had made no impression on 
Grant. He never offered general battle in the open 
afterward. 

The previous history of the Army of the Potomac 
had been to advance and fight a battle, then either to 
retreat or to lie still, and finally to go into winter quar- 
ters. Grant did not intend to proceed in that way. 
As soon as he had fought a battle and had not routed 
Lee, he meant to move nearer to Richmond and fight 
another battle. But the men in the army had become 
so accustomed to the old methods of campaigning that 
few, if any, of them believed that the new commander 
in chief would be able to do differently from his prede- 
cessors. I remember distinctly the sensation in the 
ranks when the rumor first went around that our posi- 
tion was south of Lee's. It was the morning of May 
8th. The night before the army had made a forced 
march on Spottsylvania Courthouse. There was no in- 
dication the next morning that Lee had moved in any 
direction. As the army began to realize that we were 
really moving south, and at that moment were prob- 
ably much nearer Richmond than was our enemy, the 
spirits of men and officers rose to the highest pitch of 
animation. On every hand I heard the cry, " On to 
Richmond!" 

But there were to be a great many more obstacles 
to our reaching Richmond than General Grant himself, 
I presume, realized on May 8, 1864. We met one that 
very morning; for when our advance reached Spottsyl- 

194 



The Army of the Potomac in 1864. 

vania Courthouse it found Lee's troops there, ready to 
dispute the right of way with us, and two days later 
Grant was obliged to fight the battle of Spottsylvania 
before we could make another move south. 

It is no part of my present plan to go into detailed 
description of all the battles of this campaign, but rather 
to dwell on the incidents and deeds which impressed me 
most deeply at the moment. In the battle of Spottsyl- 
vania, a terrific struggle, with many dramatic features, 
there is nothing I remember more distinctly than a little 
scene in General Grant's tent between him and a cap- 
tured Confederate officer, General Edward Johnson. 
The battle had begun on the morning of May 10th, and 
had continued all day. On the nth the armies had 
rested, but at half past four on the morning of the 12th 
fighting had been begun by an attack by Hancock on 
a rebel salient. Hancock attacked with his accustomed 
impetuosity, storming and capturing the enemy's forti- 
fied line, with some four thousand prisoners and twenty 
cannon. The captures included nearly all of Major- 
General Edward Johnson's division, together with John- 
son himself and General George H. Steuart. 

I was at Grant's headquarters when General John- 
son was brought in a prisoner. He was a West Pointer, 
and had been a captain in the old army before secession, 
and was an important officer in the Confederate serv- 
ice, having distinguished himself in the Valley in 1863, 
and at Gettysburg. Grant had not seen him since they 
had been in Mexico together. The two men shook 
hands cordially, and at once began a brisk conversa- 
tion, which was very interesting to me, because nothing 

195 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

was said in it on the subject in which they were both 
most interested just then — that is, the fight that was 
going on, and the surprise that Hancock had effected. 
It was the past alone of which they talked. 

It was quite early in the morning when Hancock's 
prisoners were brought in. The battle raged without 
cessation throughout the day, Wright and Hancock 
bearing the brunt of it. Burnside made several attacks, 
in which his troops generally bore themselves like good 
soldiers. The results of the battle of Spottsylvania were 
that we had crowded the enemy out of some of his 
most important positions, had weakened him by losses 
of between nine thousand and ten thousand men killed, 
wounded, and captured, besides many battle flags and 
much artillery, and that our troops rested victorious 
upon the ground they had fought for. 

After the battle was over and firing had nearly 
ceased, Rawlins and I went out to ride over the field. 
We went first to the salient which Hancock had attacked 
in the morning. The two armies had struggled for 
hours for this point, and the loss had been so terrific 
that the place has always been known since as the 
" Bloody Angle." The ground around the salient had 
been trampled and cut in the struggle until it was al- 
most impassable for one on horseback, so Rawlins and 
I dismounted and climbed up the bank over the outer 
line of the rude breastworks. Within we saw a fence 
over which earth evidently had been banked, but which 
now was bare and half down. It was here the fighting 
had been fiercest. We picked our way to this fence, and 
stopped to look over the scene. The night was coming 

196 



I7ie Army of the Potomac in 1864. 

on, and, after the horrible din of the day, the silence 
was intense; nothing broke it but distant and occasional 
firing or the low groans of the wounded. I remember 
that as I stood there I was almost startled to hear a bird 
twittering in a tree. All around us the underbrush and 
trees, which were just beginning to be green, had been 
riddled and burnt. The ground was thick with dead 
and wounded men, among whom the relief corps was 
at work. The earth, which was soft from the heavy 
rains we had been having before and during the battle, 
had been trampled by the fighting of the thousands of 
men until it was soft, like thin hasty pudding. Over 
the fence against which we leaned lay a great pool of 
this mud, its surface as smooth as that of a pond. 

As we stood there, looking silently down at it, of 
a sudden the leg of a man was lifted up from the pool 
and the mud dripped off his boot. It was so unex- 
pected, so horrible, that for a moment we were stunned. 
Then we pulled ourselves together and called to some 
soldiers near by to rescue the owner of the leg. They 
pulled him out with but little trouble, and discovered 
that he was not dead, only wounded. He was taken to 
the hospital, where he got well, I believe. 

The first news which passed through the ranks the 
morning after the battle of Spottsylvania was that Lee 
had abandoned his position during the night. Though 
our army was greatly fatigued from the enormous ef- 
forts of the day before, the news of Lee's departure in- 
spired the men with fresh energy, and everybody was 
eager to be in pursuit. Our skirmishers soon found the 
enemy along the whole line, however, and the conclu- 

197 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

sion was that their retrograde movement had been made 
to correct their position after the loss of the key points 
taken from them the day before, and that they were still 
with us in a new line as strong as the old one. Of course, 
we could not determine this point without a battle, and 
nothing was done that day to provoke one. It was 
necessary to rest the men. 

In changing his lines Lee had left more uncovered 
the roads leading southward along his right wing, and 
Grant ordered Meade to throw the corps of Warren, 
which held the right, and the corps of Wright, which 
held the center of Meade's army, to the left of Burnside, 
leaving Hancock upon our right. If not interrupted, 
Grant thought by this maneuvre to turn Lee's flank and 
compel him to move southward. 

The movement of the two corps to our left was exe- 
cuted during the night of May 13th and 14th, but for 
three days it had rained steadily, and the roads were 
so bad that Wright and Warren did not get up to sur- 
prise the enemy at daylight as ordered. The only en- 
gagement brought on by this move was an active little 
fight over a conspicuous hill, with a house and planta- 
tion buildings upon it. The hill, which was on our left 
and the enemy's right, was valuable as a lookout rather 
than for offensive operations. Upton took it in the 
morning, and later the enemy retook it. General Meade, 
who was there at that moment, narrowly escaped cap- 
ture. Our men very handsomely carried the hill again 
that evening. 

The two armies were then lying in a semicircle, the 
Federal left well around toward the south. We were 

198 



The Army of the Potomac in 1864. 

concentrated to the last degree, and, so far as we could 
tell, Lee's forces were equally compact. On the 15th, 
1 6th, and 17th, we lay in about the same position. This 
inactivity was caused by the weather. A pouring rain 
had begun on the nth, and it continued until the morn- 
ing of the 1 6th; the mud was so deep that any offensive 
operation, however successful, could not be followed up. 
There was nothing to do but lie still and wait for better 
weather and drier roads. 

While waiting for the rain to stop, we had time to 
consider the field returns of losses as they were handed 
in. The army had left winter quarters at Culpeper 
Courthouse on May 4th, and on May 16th the total 
of killed, wounded, and missing in both the Army of 
the Potomac and the Ninth Corps amounted to a little 
over thirty-three thousand men. The missing alone 
amounted to forty-nine hundred, but some of these 
were, in fact, killed or wounded. When Grant looked 
over the returns, he expressed great regret at the loss 
of so many men. Meade, who was with him, remarked, 
as I remember, " Well, General, we can't do these little 
tricks without losses." 



199 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE GREAT GAME BETWEEN GRANT AND LEE. 

Maneuvering and fighting in the rain, mud, and thickets — Virginian 
conditions of warfare — Within eight miles of Richmond — The bat- 
tle of Cold Harbor — The tremendous losses of the campaign — The 
charge of butchery against Grant considered in the light of statis- 
tics — What it cost in life and blood to take Richmond. 

By the afternoon of May 17th the weather was splen- 
did, and the roads were rapidly becoming dry, even 
where the mud was worst. Grant determined to en- 
gage Lee, and orders for a decisive movement of the 
army were issued, to be executed during the night. At 
first he proposed an attack upon the enemy's right, 
but changed the plan. Instead of attacking there, Han- 
cock and Wright made a night march back to our right 
flank, and attacked at daylight upon the same lines 
where Hancock made his successful assault on the 12th. 
They succeeded in pressing close to the enemy's lines, 
and for a time were confident that at last they had struck 
the lair of the enemy, but an impassable abatis stopped 
them. One division of Hancock's corps attempted in 
vain to charge through this obstacle, and held the 
ground before it for an hour or more under a galling 
fire of canister. The difficulty of storming the enemy's 
intrenched camp on that side being evidently of the 
most extreme character, and both corps having artfully 

200 



The Great Game between Grant and Lee. 

but unsuccessfully sought for a weak point where they 
might break through, Grant, at nine o'clock, ordered 
the attack to cease. The attempt was a failure. Lee 
was not to be ousted; and Grant, convinced of it, issued 
orders for another movement which he had had in 
contemplation for several days, but which he did not 
wish to try till after a last attempt to get the enemy 
out of his stronghold. This was nothing less than 
to slip away from Lee and march on toward Richmond 
again. 

The new order directed that Hancock's corps should 
march by night from its present position southeast as 
far toward Richmond on the line of the Fredericksburg 
road as he could go, righting his way if necessary. 
Warren was to follow, and, if Lee did not come out and 
attack when our army was thus weakened, Wright and 
Burnside also were to march southward. 

This movement was begun on the night of the 20th. 
By the night of the 21st Hancock was across the Mattap- 
ony River at Milford. Warren had crossed the same 
river at Guiney's Station, the point to which Grant had 
moved his headquarters. By the morning of the 22d 
Wright and Burnside were up in safety, and the forward 
movement was continued. We were now in a fine, 
clear country, good to move in and fight in, and the 
advance of the 22d was most successful. By night our 
army lay in an east and west line along the Mattapony 
River, holding the crossings. On the right was Wright; 
close to him at the left, Warren; in the center, Burn- 
side; on the left, Hancock. Our headquarters were at 
New Bethel Church. Our talk that night was that in 

201 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

all probability we should meet the enemy on the North 
Anna, a day's march to the south of our position. 

The operations of the next day were much embar- 
rassed by our ignorance of the road and the entire in- 
correctness of our maps; nevertheless, by one o'clock 
in the afternoon our right wing, under Warren, reached 
the North Anna. The stream there was about one hun- 
dred and fifty feet wide, with bluff banks from fifty to 
seventy-five feet high. Wright followed after Warren. 
As soon as Warren reached Jericho Mills he pushed his 
sharpshooters across the stream, which was easily ford- 
able at that place, following them with a compact body 
of infantry. A Confederate regiment posted to watch 
the crossing at once gave way, leaving a single prisoner 
in our hands. From this man Warren learned that an- 
other of the enemy's divisions was drawn up to receive 
him near by. Under the orders of General Grant, he 
promptly threw across the pontoon bridge, over which 
he rapidly moved his artillery, at the same time urg- 
ing forward his infantry by the ford as well as by the 
bridge; and by five o'clock he had transported his en- 
tire command, and had taken up a position of great 
strength. Here he rapidly commenced intrenching 
himself. 

Grant had by this time moved his headquarters up 
to Mount Carmel Church, some four miles from Jericho 
Mills. About six o'clock we knew from the firing that 
Warren had been attacked. I never heard more rapid 
or heavier firing, either of artillery or musketry. It 
was not until about half past ten that evening that we 
knew surely how the fight had gone; then a dispatch 

202 



The Great Game between Grant and Lee. 

from Warren announced that he had triumphantly re- 
pulsed the enemy, and made considerable captures of 
prisoners. 

About the same time that Warren was fighting for 
his position at Jericho Mills, Hancock advanced on our 
left. By a vigorous charge of two brigades of Birney's 
division, the enemy was driven over the North Anna 
River. The next morning Hancock crossed over. That 
same morning, May 24th, we found that, as a result of 
the operations of the previous day, we had about one 
thousand prisoners. They were more discouraged 
than any set of prisoners I ever saw before. Lee had 
deceived them, they said, and they declared that his 
army would not fight again except behind breast- 
works. 

The general opinion of every prominent officer in 
the army on the morning of the 24th was that the 
enemy had fallen back, either to take up a position be- 
yond the South Anna or to go to Richmond, but by 
noon the next day we knew this was a mistake. All 
through the day of the 24th Lee blocked our south- 
ward march. The opinion prevailed that the enemy's 
position was held by a rear guard only, but the ob- 
■ stinacy of their skirmishers was regarded as very re- 
markable. About dark Hancock made an attack, break- 
ing into the Confederate line of works, taking some 
prisoners, and satisfying himself that a whole corps was 
before him. Soon afterward the division of Gibbon 
was attacked, but it beat back the assault handsomely 
without any considerable loss. Just before dark Crit- 
tenden — the same Crittenden who was at Chickamauga 

203 



Recollections of the Civil ffar. 

— was also suddenly attacked, and one of his brigades 
damaged. No fighting of any moment took place on 
the morning of the 25th, but the enemy showed such 
strength as to leave no doubt that Lee's whole army 
was present. His intrenchments were in the form of 
the letter V. He showed artillery on both faces. By 
the morning of the 25th Grant was sure that Lee was 
before him and strongly intrenched. He soon deter- 
mined on a new move. This was to withdraw his whole 
army as quickly as possible, and, before Lee discovered 
his intention, to move it southeast, across the Pamun- 
key, and perhaps on across the Chickahominy and the 
James, if he could not meanwhile get Lee out of his 
earthworks. 

The orders for the new move were received with the 
best spirit by the army, in spite of the fact that the 
men were much jaded. Indeed, one of the most impor- 
tant results of the campaign thus far was the entire 
change which had taken place in the feelings of the 
armies. The Confederates had lost all confidence, and 
were already morally defeated. Our army had learned 
to believe that it was sure of ultimate victory. Even 
our officers had ceased to regard Lee as an invincible 
military genius. On the part of the enemy this change 
was evinced not only by their not attacking, even when 
circumstances seemed to invite it, but by the unanimous 
statements of prisoners taken from them. 

The morning after we began to move from our posi- 
tion on the North Anna I was so confident that I wrote 
Mr. Stanton, " Rely upon it, the end is near as well as 



sure." 



204 



The Great Game between Grant and Lee. 

It was on the night of the 26th that our army was 
withdrawn from the North Anna, without loss or dis- 
turbance, and by the evening of the 27th Grant had 
his headquarters ten miles from Hanovertown, and his 
whole army was well up toward the crossing. We had 
no news of Lee's movements that day, though we heard 
that there was a force of the enemy at Hanover Court- 
house. Grant himself was very doubtful that day of 
our getting across the Hanover Ferry; he told me that 
we might be obliged to go farther to the southeast to 
get over. On the morning of the 27th Sheridan and 
his cavalry seized the ferry, laying bridges, and, after 
crossing, advancing well beyond. Everything went on 
finely that night and during the 28th, the troops pass- 
ing our headquarters in great numbers and very rapidly. 
By noon of the 28th the movement of the army across 
the Pamunkey was complete, with the exception of 
Burnside, who did not arrive until midnight. The 
movement had been executed with admirable celerity 
and success. The new position was one of great 
strength, our lines extending from the Pamunkey to 
Totopotomoy Creek. Wright was on the Pamunkey, 
Hancock on his left, and Warren on the Totopotomoy. 
The orders for that day were to let the men rest, though 
both officers and men were in high spirits at the suc- 
cessful execution of this long and difficult flank move- 
ment. 

We were now south of the Pamunkey, and occupy- 
ing a very strong position, but we did not know yet 
where Lee was. A general reconnaissance was at 
once ordered, and the enemy was found in force south 

205 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

of the Totopotomoy Creek; by the 30th there was no 
doubt that Lee's whole army, now re-enforced by thir- 
teen thousand men, was close at hand and strongly 
intrenched again. Grant said he would fight here if 
there was a fair chance, but he declared emphatically 
he would not run his head against heavy works. 

Our line began to push forward on the 30th. All 
the afternoon of that day at headquarters, which were 
now at Hawes's Shop, we heard the noise of fighting. 
First Warren on the left, who had reached a point only 
about seven miles and a half from Richmond, had a 
short, sharp, and decisive engagement with Early; and 
later an active conflict raged for some time with our 
right on the Totopotomoy. We were successful all 
along the line. The next day, the 31st, we pushed 
ahead until our lines lay from Bethesda Church, on 
the east, to the railroad, on the west. Desultory firing 
was constantly heard, but there was no very active 
fighting that day until about five o'clock in the after- 
noon, when Sheridan's cavalry, by hard work, drove 
out the enemy and secured Cold Harbor, which was 
at that moment of vast importance to us strateg- 
ically. 

It was determined to make a fight here before the 
enemy could intrench. Wright was at once ordered to 
have his whole force on the ground by daylight on the 
1 st of June, to support Sheridan and take the offensive. 
" Baldy " Smith, of Butler's army, who had landed at 
White House on the 31st with twelve thousand five 
hundred men, was ordered to the aid of Wright and 
Sheridan. But there was an error in Smith's orders, 

206 



The Great Game betuueen Grant and Lee. 

and Wright's march was so long that his corps did not 
get up to Cold Harbor until the afternoon of the ist. 
Meanwhile Sheridan's cavalry had repulsed two at- 
tacks by two brigades of Kershaw's infantry. 

It was not until six o'clock in the afternoon that we 
at headquarters at Bethesda Church heard the cannon 
which indicated that an attack had at last been made 
by Wright and Smith. From the sounds of artillery 
and musketry, we judged the fight was furious. Rick- 
ett's division broke through the rebel lines between 
Hoke and Kershaw, capturing five hundred prisoners, 
and forcing the enemy to take up a new position farther 
back. Smith's troops effected lodgments close up to 
the Confederate intrenchments. Our losses this day 
were twenty-two hundred men in these two corps. War- 
ren was slightly engaged. Altogether they had done 
very well, but meanwhile Lee was again concentrated 
and intrenched in our front. 

Hancock was ordered to move during the night, 
and his advance arrived at Cold Harbor about daylight. 
When I got up in the morning — I was then at Bethesda 
Church — his rear was marching past our headquarters. 
In conjunction with Wright and Smith, he was to fall 
upon Lee's right that day. Warren and Burnside were 
also ordered in as soon as they heard that the three 
corps on our left had begun battle. There was no battle 
that day, however. Hancock's men were so tired with 
their forced march of nearly twelve miles, and the heat 
and dust were so oppressive, that General Grant or- 
dered the attack to be postponed until half past four 
o'clock the next morning. 

207 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

So the battle Grant sought did not come until June 
3d — that of Cold Harbor. On the morning of the 3d 
our line lay with the right at Bethesda Church, the left 
extending to the Chickahominy. Hancock commanded 
the left; next to him was Wright, with his corps drawn 
up in three lines; next, Smith, with the Eighteenth 
Corps in two lines; next, Warren, who had his whole 
command in a single line, the distance he covered being 
fully three miles. With this thin order of battle he was 
necessarily unable to make any effective assault. Burn- 
side held the extreme right. Hancock, Wright, and 
Smith were to make the main attacks at daybreak. 
Promptly at the hour they dashed out toward the rebel 
lines, under a fearful fire of musketry and a cross fire of 
artillery. The losses were great, but we gained advan- 
tages here and there. The entire charge consumed 
hardly more than an hour. Barlow, of Hancock's corps, 
drove through a very strong line, and at five o'clock 
reported that he had taken intrenchments with guns 
and colors, but he could not stay there. An interior 
breastwork commanded the one he had carried, and his 
men had to withdraw, leaving behind them the captured 
cannon, and bringing out a single Confederate standard 
and two hundred and twenty prisoners as tokens of their 
brief success. Wright and Smith succeeded in carry- 
ing the first line of rifle-pits, but could get no farther 
to the front. All our forces held ground close up to 
the enemy. At some points they were intrenched within 
a hundred feet of the rebel breastworks. Burnside, on 
the right, captured some rifle-pits. Later he was at- 
tacked by Early, who was roughly handled and repulsed. 

208 



The Great Game between Grant and Lee. 

Warren was active, and repulsed a vigorous attack by 
Gordon. 

Thus by noon we had fully developed the Confed- 
erate lines, and Grant could see what was necessary in 
order to get through them. Hancock reported that in 
his front it could not be done. Wright was decidedly 
of the opinion that a lodgment could be made in his 
front, but it would be difficult to make much by it un- 
less Hancock and Smith could also advance. Smith 
thought he could carry the works before him, but was 
not sanguine. Burnside also thought he could get 
through, but Warren, who was nearest him, did not 
seem to share his opinion. In this state of things, at 
half past one o'clock, General Grant ordered the attack 
to be suspended. He had told Meade as early as seven 
in the morning to suspend the movement if it became 
evident that success was impossible. 

This was the battle of Cold Harbor, which has been 
exaggerated into one of the bloodiest disasters of his- 
tory, a reckless, useless waste of human life. It was 
nothing of the kind. The outlook warranted the effort. 
The breaking of Lee's lines meant his destruction and 
the collapse of the rebellion. Sheridan took the same 
chances at Five Forks ten months later, and won; so 
did Wright, Humphreys, Gibbon, and others at Peters- 
burg. They broke through far stronger lines than those 
at Cold Harbor, and Lee fled in the night toward Ap- 
pomattox. So it would have been at Cold Harbor if 
Grant had won, and who would have thought of the 
losses? 

While we lay at Cold Harbor, as when we had been 
J 5 209 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

at Spottsylvania, the principal topic of conversation was 
the losses of the army. The discussion has never ceased. 
There are still many persons who bitterly accuse Grant 
of butchery in this campaign. As a matter of fact, Grant 
lost fewer men in his successful effort to take Richmond 
and end the war than his predecessors lost in making 
the same attempt and failing. An official table, showing 
the aggregate of the losses sustained by the armies of 
McDowell, McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, 
Butler, and Ord, in the effort to capture the Confederate 
capital, is appended: 



Comparative Statement of the Losses sustained in Action by the 
Army of Northeastern Virginia, the Army of the Potomac, and 
the Army of Virginia, under Command of Generals McDowell, 
McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, and Meade, from May 24, 
1 86 1, to May 4, 1864, and the Army of the Potomac {Meade) and 
the Army of the James {Butler and Ord), constituting the 
Armies operating against Richmond under General Grant, from 
May 5, 1864, to April 9, 1865 : 



Losses from May 24, 1861, to May 

4, 1864 : 
McDowell, May 24 to August 

19, 1861 

McClellan, August 20, 1861, to 

April 4, 1862 

McClellan, April 5 to August 8, 

1862 

Pope, June 26 to September 2, 

1862 

McClellan, September 3 to No- 
vember 14, 1862 

Burnside, November 15, 1862, 

to January 25, 1863 

Hooker, January 26 to June 27, 

1863 

Meade, June 28, 1863, to May 4, 

1864 

Total 

2 



Killed. 


Wounded. 


Captured 
or missing. 


Aggre- 
gate. 


493 


1,176 


1,342 


3.011 


80 


268 


815 


1,163 


3.263 


13,868 


7,317 


24,448 


2,065 


9,908 


4,982 


i6,955 


2,716 


11,979 


13,882 


28,577 


1,296 


9,642 


2,276 


13,214 


1,955 


II,l6o 


11,912 


25.027 


3,877 


18,078 


9,575 


3i,530 


15,745 


76,079 


52,101 


143.925 


IO 









The Great Game between Grant and Lee. 



Comparative Statement — (continued) . 



Grant's losses from May 5, 1864, 
to April 9, 1865 : 

May 5 to June 24, 1864 — Army 
of the Potomac, from the Rapi- 
dan to the James 

May 5 to June 14 — Army of the 
James, south of James River. 

June 15 to July 31 — Army of the 
Potomac and Army of the 
James 

August 1 to December 31 — Army 
of the Potomac and Army of 
the James 

January 1 to April 9, 1865 — Army 
of the Potomac and Army of 
the James and Sheridan's cav- 
alry 



Total 



Summary : 

Armies of McDowell, McClellan, 
Pope, Burnside, Hooker, and 
Meade 

Armies under Grant 



Grand aggregate 



Aggregate of losses from May 24, 
1861, to May 4, 1864 

Aggregate of losses from May 4, 
1864, to April 9, 1865 



Difference in Grant's favor. 



Killed. 



7,621 
634 

2,928 
2,172 

1,784 



15,139 



15,745 
15,139 



30,884 



Wounded. 



Captured 
or missing. 



38,339 
3,903 

13,743 
11,138 

10,625 



77,748 



76,079 

77.748 



153,827 



8,966 
1,678 

6,265 
11,311 

3,283 



31,503 



52,IOI 
31,503 



83,604 



Aggre- 
gate. 



54,926 

6,215 

22,936 
24,621 

15,692 



124,390 



143,925 
124,390 

268,315 



143,925 
124,390 



19.535 



This table shows exactly what Richmond cost us 
from May 24, 1861, when McDowell crossed the Po- 
tomac into Virginia, to Lee's surrender at Appomattox; 
and it proves that Grant in eleven months secured the 
prize with less loss than his predecessors suffered in fail- 
ing to win it during a struggle of three years. 



211 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE MARCH ON PETERSBURG. 

In camp at Cold Harbor — Grant's opinion of Lee — Trouble with news- 
paper correspondents — Moving south of the James River — The 
great pontoon bridge — The fighting of the colored troops — Failure 
to take Petersburg at first attack — Lee loses Grant and Beauregard 
finds him — Beauregard's service to the Confederacy. 

The affair of June 3d at Cold Harbor showed that 
Lee was not to be driven from his position without a 
great sacrifice of life. A left flank movement south of 
the James River was accordingly decided upon by 
Grant. This was no new idea; that eventuality had 
been part of the original plan of campaign, and prep- 
arations for bridging the James had been ordered as 
early as the 15th of April, three weeks before the battle 
of the Wilderness. One object of the movement across 
the James was to cut off Richmond's line of supplies 
from the south. But before this could be done an- 
other matter had to be attended to. 

In General Grant's plan of campaign the effectual 
destruction of the Virginia Central Railroad was an in- 
dispensable feature. In moving from Culpeper he had 
expected that before reaching the Chickahominy he 
would have a chance to crush Lee's army by fighting. 
This would have allowed him an undisturbed oppor- 
tunity to destroy that road, as well as the Fredericks- 

212 



The March on Petersburg. 

burg road from the Chickahominy to the North Anna. 
The expectation had been disappointed by Lee's suc- 
cess in avoiding a decisive battle. Before moving far- 
ther in accomplishing the great object of the campaign, 
these roads must be so thoroughly destroyed that when 
Richmond was cut off from other lines of communica- 
tion with the south the attempt to repair and use the 
line through Gordonsville and Lynchburg would be 
hopeless. The work was first to be attempted by Sheri- 
dan with cavalry. If he was not able to complete it, 
the whole army was to be swung around for the pur- 
pose, even should it be necessary to abandon tempor- 
arily our communications with White House. 

This necessity, as well as that of making thorough 
preparations for the difficult march south of the James 
and for the perfect co-operation of Butler at Bermuda 
Hundred, detained Grant at Cold Harbor until June 
1 2th. Two officers of his staff, Colonel Comstock and 
Colonel Porter, had been sent to General Butler to ar- 
range for co-operation in the movement of the army to 
Bermuda Hundred, and to look over the ground to be 
traversed and the means of crossing the river. Grant 
would not order the movement until they returned. 
They did not get back until the 12th. 

During this time the opposing lines of Grant and 
Lee were very close together, and on our side the troops 
made regular siege approaches to the Confederate 
works. The days passed quietly, with no fighting ex- 
cept an occasional rattle of musketry and now and then 
a cannon shot. There was occasionally a scare on the 
line. On the evening of June 5th Wright's and Han- 

213 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar 

cock's line responded to a stiff assault; the firing lasted 
for twenty minutes, and it was very loud, but it was 
all about nothing and no harm was done. The enemy 
were so near that in the dark our men thought they 
were coming out to attack. On June 6th there was an 
onslaught on Burnside just after midnight, which was 
successfully repulsed, and in the afternoon a rush was 
made by a party of a hundred picked men of the enemy, 
who came to find out what was the meaning of Han- 
cock's advancing siege lines. As a rule, everything was 
quiet except the picket firing, which could not be pre- 
vented when the men were so close together. The 
picket firing ceased only during the occasional truces 
to bury the dead. 

The operations around Cold Harbor, the close prox- 
imity of the two lines, the unceasing firing, with no hour 
in the day or night when one could not hear the sound 
of musketry and cannon, were precisely like the condi- 
tions at Spottsylvania and those on the North Anna. 
It was a constant feeling for the weak spot in Lee's 
armor. There was far less maneuvering at Cold Har- 
bor after the first efforts than during the long struggle 
at Spottsylvania. We were merely waiting for the 
proper moment to withdraw toward the James. Grant, 
Meade, and all the leading officers were certain of ulti- 
mate success; although the fighting had been more se- 
vere and continuous than anything in the previous his- 
tory of the army, I must say a cheerful, confident tone 
generally prevailed. All acted as if they were at a job 
which required only time to finish. 

Grant was disappointed, and talked to me a good 

214 



The March on Petersburg. 

deal about the failure to get at Lee in an open battle 
which would wind up the Confederacy. The general 
was constantly revolving plans to turn Lee out of his 
intrenchments. The old-time fear of Lee's superior 
ability that was rife among the officers of the Army of 
the Potomac had entirely disappeared. They had begun 
to look upon him as an ordinary mortal, making a fairly 
good effort to ward off fate, and nothing more. I think 
Grant respected Lee's military ability and character, yet 
the boldness with which he maneuvered in Lee's pres- 
ence is proof that he was not overawed by Lee's pres- 
tige as a strategist and tactician. He thought Lee's 
great forte was as a defensive fighter, a quality displayed 
at Antietam and Fredericksburg; but held no high 
opinion of his Chancellorsville operations, where he had 
recklessly laid himself open to ruin. To me the views 
of the military men at the different headquarters were 
interesting and instructive. 

While we were encamped at Cold Harbor, General 
Meade was very much disturbed by a letter published 
in a Cincinnati paper, saying that after the battle of 
the Wilderness he counselled retreat — a course which 
would have destroyed the nation, but which Grant pro- 
hibited. This was entirely untrue. Meade had not 
shown any weakness since moving from Culpeper, nor 
once intimated doubt as to the successful issue of the 
campaign. Nor had he intimated that any other plan 
or line would be more likely to win. The newspaper 
correspondent who was responsible for the misstate- 
ment was with us, and Meade ordered that, as a pun- 
ishment, he should be paraded through the lines and 

215 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

afterward expelled from the army. This was done on 
June 8th, the correspondent being led through the army 
on horseback by the provost-marshal guard. On his 
back and breast were tacked placards inscribed, " Li- 
beller of the Press." 

It was not often, considering the conditions, that 
correspondents got into trouble in the army. As a rule, 
they were discreet. Besides this case of Meade, I re- 
member now only one other in which I was actively 
interested; that was a few months later, after I had re- 
turned to the department. Mr. Stanton had been 
annoyed by a telegram which had been published about 
Sherman's movements, and he ordered me to send it 
to the general, so that we might know how much truth 
there was in it. I wired him as follows: 

War Department, November g, 1864. 
Major-General Sherman, Kingston, Ga. : 

Following, copied from evening papers, is sent for 
your information: 

Cincinnati, November g, 1864. 

" Yesterday's Indianapolis Journal says : ' Officers 
from Chattanooga report that Sherman returned to At- 
lanta early last week with five corps of his army, leav- 
ing two corps in Tennessee to watch Hood. He de- 
stroyed the railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and 
is sending the iron into the former place. Atlanta was 
burned, and Sherman is now marching for Charleston, 
S. c: " 

Sherman sent back two characteristic dispatches. 

The first ran: 

Kingston, Ga., November 10, 1864. 
Hon. C. A. Dana : 

Dispatch of 9th read. Can't you send to Indian- 

216 



The March on Petersburg. 

apolis and catch that fool and have him sent to me to 
work on the forts? All well. 

W. T. Sherman, Major General. 

The second: 

Kingston, Ga., November 10, 1864. 
Hon. C. A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War : 

If indiscreet newspaper men publish information too 
near the truth, counteract its effect by publishing other 
paragraphs calculated to mislead the enemy, such as 
" Sherman's army has been re-enforced, especially in 
the cavalry, and he will soon move several columns in 
circuit, so as to catch Hood's army "; " Sherman's des- 
tination is not Charleston, but Selma, where he will 
meet an army from the Gulf," etc. 

W. T. Sherman, Major General. 

So I telegraphed to Indianapolis to General A. P. 
Hovey, who was stationed there: 

War Department, November 10, 1864. 
Major-General A. P. Hovey, Indianapolis : 

In compliance with the request of Major-General 
Sherman, the Secretary of War directs that you ascer- 
tain what persons furnished the information respecting 
Sherman's alleged movement published in the Indian- 
apolis Journal of the 8th inst. You will arrest them 
and send them under guard to such point in the Depart- 
ment of the Cumberland as Major-General Thomas may 
prefer, where they will be employed in hard labor upon 
the fortifications until General Sherman shall otherwise 
order. 

General Hovey never found the man, however. 

By the morning of the 12th of June Grant was ready 
for his last flank movement of the campaign. Our 
army at that time, including Sheridan's cavalry, con- 

217 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

sisted of approximately one hundred and fifteen thou- 
sand fighting men. The plan for moving this great 
body was as follows : The Eighteenth Corps was to 
move to White House without baggage or artillery, 
and there embark for City Point. The Fifth Corps was 
to cross the Chickahominy at Long Bridge, and take a 
position to secure the passage of the remainder of the 
army, after which it was to cover the rear. The Second, 
Sixth, and Ninth Corps were to cross in two columns at 
Long Bridge and Jones's Bridge. At first it had been 
hoped, if not opposed by the enemy in force, to strike 
James River immediately opposite Bermuda Hundred; 
if resisted, then lower down, where General Butler had 
been ordered to throw a bridge across and to corduroy 
the approaches. 

The Fifth Corps having prepared the way, the whole 
army left the lines about Cold Harbor on schedule time, 
just as soon after nightfall on the 12th as its movements 
could be concealed from the observation of the enemy. 
It was in drawing orders for such complicated move- 
ments as these, along different roads and by different 
crossings, that the ability of General Humphreys, the 
chief of staff, was displayed. Everything went perfectly 
from the start. That evening at seven o'clock, when I 
reached Moody's, four miles from Long Bridge, the 
Fifth Corps (Warren's) was moving rapidly past us. 
Our cavalry advance, under General Wilson, who had 
also been transferred to the East, had previously taken 
Long Bridge and laid a pontoon bridge in readiness for 
the crossing, so that by nine o'clock that evening the 
Fifth Corps was south of the Chickahominy, well out 

218 



The March on Petersburg. 

toward the approaches from Richmond, and covering 
them. All day, the 13th, the army was hurrying toward 
the James. By night the Sixth Corps had reached the 
river, and the rest of the troops were on the march 
between there and the Chickahominy, which was our 
rear. 

When I reached the James early the next day, the 
14th, large numbers of men were hard at work on the 
pontoon bridge and its approaches, by which it was 
intended that the artillery and trains should cross. It 
was a pretty heavy job to corduroy the marsh, which 
was fully half a mile wide and quite deep. The bridge 
itself was unprecedented in military annals, except, 
perhaps, by that of Xerxes, being nearly seven hun- 
dred yards long. 

All day on the 14th everything went like a miracle. 
The pontoon bridge was finished at two o'clock the next 
morning, and the cavalry of Wilson's leading brigade, 
followed by the artillery trains, instantly began cross- 
ing. By ten o'clock on the 15th Hancock's corps had 
been ferried over, and he was off toward Petersburg to 
support Smith, who had taken the Eighteenth Corps 
around by water from the White House, and had been 
ordered to attack Petersburg that morning. All the 
news we had that night at City Point, where headquar- 
ters had been set up, was that Smith had assaulted and 
carried the principal line of the enemy before Peters- 
burg. 

The next morning early I was off for the heights 
southeast of the town. Smith's success appeared to be 
of the most important kind. He had carried heights 

219 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

which were defended by very formidable works. He 
thought — and, indeed, we all thought for the moment — 
that his success gave us perfect command of the city 
and railroad. I went over the conquered lines with 
General Grant and the engineer officers, and they all 
agreed that the works were of the very strongest kind, 
more difficult even to take than Missionary Ridge at 
Chattanooga. 

General Smith told us that the negro troops fought 
magnificently, the hardest fighting being done by them. 
The forts they stormed were, I think, the worst of all. 
After the affair was over, General Smith went to thank 
them, and tell them he was proud of their courage and 
dash. He said they had no superiors as soldiers, and 
that hereafter he should send them into a difficult place 
as readily as the best white troops. They captured six 
out of the sixteen cannons which he took. 

It soon appeared, however, that Smith was far from 
having captured points which commanded Petersburg. 
His success had but little effect in determining the final 
result. He had stopped his advance a few minutes and 
a considerable space too soon, because, as he subse- 
quently alleged, it was too dark and his men were too 
much fatigued for further operations; and he feared Lee 
had already re-enforced the town. This turned out not 
to be so; Lee did not know until the 17th that Grant 
had crossed the James. And up to that date Lee's posi- 
tion was a mystery to us; we could hardly suppose he 
had remained at Cold Harbor. 

When Grant discovered exactly how much had been 
gained and lost, he was very much dissatisfied. There 

220 



The March on Petersburg. 

was a controversy between Hancock and Smith subse- 
quently about the responsibility for this failure. 

On June 16th, the day after Smith's attack, more of 
the troops arrived before Petersburg. General Meade 
also arrived on the ground, and the job of capturing 
Petersburg was now taken up in earnest by the whole 
Army of the Potomac. It was no longer a mere matter 
of advancing eighty or one hundred rods, as on the 
night previous, for meanwhile the enemy had been 
largely and rapidly re-enforced. Much time and 
many thousands of valuable lives were to be expended 
in getting possession of this vital point, which had 
really been in our grasp on the evening of the 15th. 
That afternoon there began a series of assaults 
on the works of the enemy. The fighting lasted all 
night, the moonlight being very clear. Our loss was 
heavy. 

The next day, the 17th, another attack was made 
at Petersburg. It was persistent, but Meade found that 
his men were so worn out with marching, fighting, and 
digging that they must have rest, and so laid off until 
noon of the 18th, when, all of the army being up, a gen- 
eral assault was ordered. Nothing important was 
gained, and General Grant directed that no more as- 
saults should be made. He said that after this he should 
maneuver to get possession of Petersburg. 

I saw nothing of the fighting of June 16th and 17th, 
being ill in camp, but the members of Grant's staff told 
me that our operations were unsatisfactory, owing to 
our previous heavy loss in superior officers. The men 
fought as well as ever, Colonel Comstock told me, but 

221 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

they were not directed with the same skill and enthu- 
siasm. 

While these operations were going on, I made two 
or three trips to the river to watch the crossing of the 
troops. It was an animated and inspiring sight, for 
the great mass of men, animals, and baggage was 
handled with the greatest intelligence. By the 17th our 
entire army was south of the James, and the bridge 
over the river by which the trains had crossed was 
taken up. 

During all this period, from Cold Harbor to Peters- 
burg, we knew nothing of Lee. In making the disposi- 
tion for this great and successful movement — a far more 
brilliant evolution than McClellan's " change of base " 
two years before over almost the same roads — the pur- 
pose was, of course, to deceive Lee as to the ultimate 
direction of the army. The design succeeded far be- 
yond Grant's most sanguine hopes. As soon, on the 
morning of the 13th, as the Confederate chieftain dis- 
covered our withdrawal, he moved his army across the 
Chickahominy in hot haste, flinging it between his capi- 
tal and the foe, supposed to be advancing on a new line 
between the James and the Chickahominy. He held 
and fortified a line from White Oak swamp to Malvern 
Hill, and here he remained stock still for four days, won- 
dering what had become of Grant. 

Lee had been completely deceived, and could not 
be made to believe by Beauregard, on the 15th, 16th, 
and 17th, that Grant's whole army had turned up be- 
fore Petersburg. His troops, as we know now, did not 
cross the James, to go to the relief of Beauregard until 

222 



The March on 'Petersburg. 

the 17th. He was caught napping, and, but for mistakes 
by subordinates in carrying out Grant's plans, Lee's 
cause would have been lost. In the operations from the 
night of the 12th, when Grant changed his line and base 
with an army of one hundred and fifteen thousand men, 
and all its vast trains of artillery, crossing a wide and 
deep river on a temporary bridge, until June 18th, when 
at last Lee awoke to the situation, General Beauregard 
shines out on the Confederate side far more brilliantly 
than the general in chief. He unquestionably saved 
Petersburg, and for the time the Confederacy; but for 
him Lee had at that time lost the game. 



223 



CHAPTER XVI. 

EARLY'S RAID AND THE WASHINGTON PANIC. 

President Lincoln visits the lines at Petersburg — Trouble with General 
Meade — Jubal Early menaces the Federal capital — The excitement 
in Washington and Baltimore — Clerks and veteran reserves called 
out to defend Washington — Grant sends troops from the front — > 
Plenty of generals, but no head — Early ends the panic by with- 
drawing — A fine letter from Grant about Hunter. 

Although Grant had decided against a further di- 
rect attack on the works of Petersburg, he was by no 
means idle. He sent out expeditions to break up the 
railroads leading into the town. He began extending 
his lines around to the south and southwest, so as to 
make the investment as complete as possible. Batteries 
were put in place, weak spots in the fortifications were 
felt for, and regular siege works were begun. Indeed, 
by July 1st the general opinion seemed to be that the 
only way we should ever gain Petersburg would be by 
a systematic siege. 

A few days later we had an interesting visit from 
President Lincoln, who arrived from Washington on 
June 2 ist, and at once wanted to visit the lines before 
Petersburg. General Grant, Admiral Lee, myself, and 
several others went with him. I remember that, as we 
passed along the lines, Mr. Lincoln's high hat was 
brushed off by the branch of a tree. There were a dozen 

224 



Early s Raid and the Washington Panic. 

young officers whose duty it was to get it and give it 
back to the President; but Admiral Lee was off his 
horse before any of these young chaps, and recovered 
the hat for the President. Admiral Lee must have been 
forty-five or fifty years old. It was his agility that im- 
pressed me so much. 

As we came back we passed through the division of 
colored troops which had so greatly distinguished itself 
under Smith on the 15th. They were drawn up in 
double lines on each side of the road, and they wel- 
comed the President with hearty shouts. It was a mem- 
orable thing to behold him whose fortune it was to 
represent the principle of emancipation passing bare- 
headed through the enthusiastic ranks of those negroes 
armed to defend the integrity of the nation. 

I went back to Washington with the presidential 
party, but remained only a few days, as Mr. Lincoln 
and Mr. Stanton were anxious for my daily reports of 
the operations around Petersburg. On the return, I ar- 
rived at City Point on July 1st. The army occupied 
about the same positions as when I had left it a week 
before. Two corps were engaged in siege work, their 
effort being to get possession of a ridge before them, 
supposed to command Petersburg; if they succeeded in 
this, Grant thought that the enemy would have to aban- 
don the south side of the Appomattox, and, of course, 
the town. On the left our line extended southward 
and westward across what was known as the Jerusalem 
road, but at so great a distance from the Confederate 
fortifications as to have no immediate effect upon them. 
Farther around to the west, toward the Appomattox 
16 225 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

above Petersburg, the enemy's works extended, and 
the idea of enveloping them for the whole distance 
had been given up. The efforts to break up the rail- 
roads leading from Petersburg had been very suc- 
cessful, Grant told me. There were plans for assault 
suggested, but Grant had not considered any of them 
seriously. 

Before the army had recovered from its long march 
from Cold Harbor and the failure to capture the town, 
there was an unusual amount of controversy going on 
among the officers. Smith was berated generally for 
failing to complete his attack of June 15th. Butler 
and " Baldy " Smith were deep in a controversial cor- 
respondence; and Meade and Warren were so at log- 
gerheads that Meade notified Warren that he must 
either ask to be relieved as corps commander or he 
(Meade) would prefer charges against him. It seemed 
as if Meade grew more unpopular every day. Finally 
the difficulties between him and his subordinates be- 
came so serious that a change in the commander of the 
Army of the Potomac seemed probable. Grant had 
great confidence in Meade, and was much attached to 
him personally; but the almost universal dislike of Meade 
which prevailed among officers of every rank who came 
in contact with him, and the difficulty of doing business 
with him, felt by every one except Grant himself, so 
greatly impaired his capacities for usefulness and ren- 
dered success under his command so doubtful that Grant 
seemed to be coming to the conviction that he must be 
relieved. 

I had long known Meade to be a man of the worst 

226 



Earlf s Raid and the Washington Panic. 

possible temper, especially toward his subordinates. I 
think he had not a friend in the whole army. No man, 
no matter what his business or his service, approached 
him without being insulted in one way or another, and 
his own staff officers did not dare to speak to him un- 
less first spoken to, for fear of either sneers or curses. 
The latter, however, I had never heard him indulge in 
very violently, but he was said to apply them often 
without occasion and without reason. At the same 
time, as far as I was able to ascertain, his generals had 
lost their confidence in him as a commander. His or- 
ders for the last series of assaults upon Petersburg, in 
which we lost ten thousand men without gaining any 
decisive advantage, were greatly criticised. They were, 
in effect, that he had found it impracticable to secure 
the co-operation of corps commanders, and that, there- 
fore, each one was to attack on his own account and 
do the best he could by himself. The consequence was 
that each gained some advantage of position, but each 
exhausted his own strength in so doing; while, for the 
want of a general purpose and a general commander to 
direct and concentrate the whole, it all amounted to 
nothing but heavy loss to ourselves. General Wright 
remarked confidentially to a friend that all of Meade's 
attacks had been made without brains and without gen- 
eralship. 

The first week of July the subject came to pretty 
full discussion at Grant's headquarters on account of an 
extraordinary correspondence between Meade and Wil- 
son. The Richmond Examiner had charged Wilson's 
command with stealing not only negroes and horses, 

227 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

but silver plate and clothing on a raid he had just 
made against the Danville and Southside Railroad, and 
Meade, taking up the statement of the Examiner for 
truth, read Wilson a lecture, and called on him for 
explanations. Wilson denied the charge of robbing 
women and churches, and said he hoped Meade would 
not be ready to condemn his command because its 
operations had excited the ire of the public enemy. 
Meade replied that Wilson's explanation was satis- 
factory; but this correspondence started a conversa- 
tion in which Grant expressed himself quite frankly 
as to the general trouble with Meade, and his fear 
that it would become necessary to relieve him. In 
that event, he said, it would be necessary to put Han- 
cock in command. 

In the first days of July we began to get inquiries 
at City Point from Washington concerning the where- 
abouts of the Confederate generals Early and Ewell. It 
was reported in the capital, our dispatches said, that 
they were moving down the Shenandoah Valley. We 
seemed to have pretty good evidence that Early was 
with Lee, defending Petersburg, and so I wired the 
Secretary on July 3d. The next day we felt less posi- 
tive. A deserter came in on the morning of the 4th, 
and said that it was reported in the enemy's camp that 
Ewell had gone into Maryland with his entire corps. 
Another twenty-four hours, and Meade told me that he 
was at last convinced that Early and his troops had 
gone down the valley. In fact, Early had been gone 
three weeks. He left Lee's army near Cold Harbor on 
the morning of the 13th of June, when we were on 

228 



Earlf s Raid and the Washington 'Panic. 

the march to the James. Hunter's defeat of Jones 
near Staunton had forced Lee to divide his army in 
order to stop Hunter's dangerous advance on Lynch- 
burg. 

On the 6th General Grant was convinced that Wash- 
ington was the objective. The raid threatened was suf- 
ficiently serious to compel the sending of troops to the 
defense of the capital, and a body of men immediately 
embarked. Three days later I started myself to Wash- 
ington, in order to keep Grant informed of what was 
going on. When I arrived, I found both Washing- 
ton and Baltimore in a state of great excitement; both 
cities were filled with people who had fled from the 
enemy. The damage to private property done by 
the invaders was said to be almost beyond calcula- 
tion. Mills, workshops, and factories of every sort 
were reported as destroyed, and from twenty-five 
to fifty miles of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
torn up. 

During my first day in town, July nth, all sorts 
of rumors came in. General Lew Wallace, then in com- 
mand at Baltimore, sent word that a large force of the 
enemy had been seen that morning near that city. The 
Confederate generals were said to have dined together 
at Rockville a day or two before. The houses of Gov- 
ernor Bradford, Francis P. Blair, senior, and his son, 
Montgomery, the Postmaster General, were reported 
burned. We could see from Washington clouds of dust 
in several quarters around the city, which we believed to 
be raised by bodies of hostile cavalry. There was some 
sharp skirmishing that day, too, on the Tennallytown 

229 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

road, as well as later in front of Fort Stevens, and at 
night the telegraph operators at the latter place reported 
a considerable number of camp fires visible in front of 
them. 

I found that the Washington authorities had util- 
ized every man in town for defense. Some fifteen hun- 
dred employees of the quartermaster's department had 
been armed and sent out; the veteran reserves about 
Washington and Alexandria had likewise been sent to 
the front. General Augur, commanding the defenses 
of Washington, had also drawn from the fortifications 
on the south side of the town all the men that in his 
judgment could possibly be spared. To this impro- 
vised force were added that day some six boatloads of 
troops which General Grant had sent from the Army 
of the Potomac. These troops went at once to Fort 
Stevens. 

With the troops coming from Grant, there was force 
enough to save the capital; but I soon saw that nothing 
could possibly be done toward pursuing or cutting off 
the enemy for want of a commander. General Hunter 
and his forces had not yet returned from their swing 
around the circle. General Augur commanded the de- 
fenses of Washington, with A. McD. McCook and a lot 
of brigadier generals under him, but he was not allowed 
to go outside. Wright commanded only his own corps. 
General Gilmore had been assigned to the temporary 
command of those troops of the Nineteenth Corps just 
arrived from New Orleans, and all other troops in the 
Middle Department, leaving Wallace to command Balti- 
more alone. But there was no head to the whole. Gen- 

230 



Early's Raid and the Washington Panic. 

eral Halleck would not give orders, except as he re- 
ceived them from Grant; the President would give 
none; and, until Grant directed positively and explicitly 
what was to be done, everything was practically at a 
standstill. Things, I saw, would go on in the deplorable 
and fatal way in which they had been going for a week. 
Of course, this want of a head was causing a great deal 
of sharp comment on all sides. Postmaster-General 
Blair was particularly incensed, and, indeed, with real 
cause, for he had lost his house at Silver Springs. Some 
of his remarks reached General Halleck, who immedi- 
ately wrote to Mr. Stanton the following letter: 

Headquarters of the Army, 

Washington, July jj, 1864. 

Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 

Sir: I deem it my duty to bring to your notice the 
following facts: I am informed by an officer of rank 
and standing in the military service that the Hon. M. 
Blair, Postmaster General, in speaking of the burning 
of his house in Maryland this morning, said, in effect, 
that the officers in command about Washington are 
poltroons; that there were not more that five hundred 
rebels on the Silver Springs road, and we had one mil- 
lion of men in arms; that it was a disgrace; that Gen- 
eral Wallace was in comparison with them far better, 
as he would at least fight. As there have been for the 
last few days a large number of officers on duty in and 
about Washington who have devoted their time and 
energies, night and day, and have periled their lives in 
the support of the Government, it is due to them, as 
well as to the War Department, that it should be known 
whether such wholesale denouncement and accusation 
by a member of the Cabinet receives the sanction and 
approbation of the President of the United States. If 
so, the names of the officers accused should be stricken 

231 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

from the rolls of the army; if not, it is due to the honor 
of the accused that the slanderer should be dismissed 
from the Cabinet. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

H. W. Halleck, 
Major General and Chief of Staff. 

The very day on which Halleck wrote this letter we 
had evidence that the enemy had taken fright at the 
arrival in Washington of the troops sent by Grant, and 
were moving off toward Edwards Ferry. It was pretty 
certain that they were carrying off a large amount of 
cattle and other plunder with them. By the end of an- 
other day there seemed no doubt that Early had got 
the main body of his command across the river with his 
captures. What they were, it was impossible to say 
precisely. One herd of cattle was reported as contain- 
ing two thousand head, and the number of horses and 
mules taken from Maryland was reported as about five 
thousand. This, however, was probably somewhat ex- 
aggerated. 

The veterans, of course, at once moved out to at- 
tempt to overtake the enemy. The irregulars were 
withdrawn from the fortifications, General Meigs march- 
ing his division of quartermaster's clerks and employees 
back to their desks; and Admiral Goldsborough, who 
had marshalled the marines and sailors, returned to 
smoke his pipe on his own doorstep. 

The pursuit of Early proved, on the whole, an egre- 
gious blunder, relieved only by a small success at Win- 
chester in which four guns and some prisoners were 
captured. Wright accomplished nothing, and drew 

232 



Early s Raid and the Washington Panic. 

back as soon as he got where he might have done some- 
thing worth while. As it was, Early escaped with the 
whole of his plunder. 

One of the best letters Grant sent me during the 
war was at the time of this Early raid on Washington. 
When the alarms of invasion first came, Grant ordered 
Major-General David Hunter, then stationed at Park- 
ersburg, W. Va., to take the direction of operations 
against the enemy's forces in the valley. Hunter did 
not come up to Mr. Stanton's expectations in this crisis, 
and when I reached Washington the Secretary told me 
to telegraph Grant that, in his opinion, Hunter ought 
to be removed. Three days later I repeated in my dis- 
patch to Grant certain rumors about Hunter that had 
reached the War Department. The substance of them 
was that Hunter had been engaged in an active cam- 
paign against the newspapers in West Virginia, and 
that he had horsewhipped a soldier with his own hand. 
I received an immediate reply: 

City Point, Va., July ij, 1864 — 8 v. m. 
C. A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War : 

I am sorry to see such a disposition to condemn so 
brave an old soldier as General Hunter is known to be 
without a hearing. He is known to have advanced into 
the enemy's country toward their main army, inflicting 
a much greater damage upon them than they have in- 
flicted upon us with double his force, and moving di- 
rectly away from our main army. Hunter acted, too, 
in a country where we had no friends, while the enemy 
have only operated in territory where, to say the least, 
many of the inhabitants are their friends. If General 
Hunter has made war upon the newspapers in West 
Virginia, probably he has done right. In horsewhip- 

233 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

ping a soldier he has laid himself subject to trial, but 
nine chances out of ten he only acted on the spur of 
the moment, under great provocation. I fail to see yet 
that General Hunter has not acted with great prompt- 
ness and great success. Even the enemy give him 
great credit for courage, and congratulate themselves 
that he will give them a chance of getting even with him. 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General. 



234 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE SECRET SERVICE OF THE WAR. 

Mr. Stanton's agents and spies — Regular subterranean traffic between 
Washington and Richmond — A man who spied for both sides — The 
arrest of the Baltimore merchants — Stanton's remarkable speech 
on the meaning of disloyalty — Intercepting Jefferson Davis's let- 
ters to Canada — Detecting the plot to burn New York, and the 
plan to invade Vermont — Story of the cleverest and pluckiest of 
spies and his remarkable adventures. 

After Early's invaders had retired and quiet was 
restored, I went to Mr. Stanton for new orders. As 
there was no probability of an immediate change in the 
situation before Petersburg, the Secretary did not think 
it necessary for me to go back to Grant, but preferred 
that I remain in the department, helping with the rou- 
tine work. 

Much of my time at this period was spent in investi- 
gating charges against defaulting contractors and dis- 
honest agents, and in ordering arrests of persons sus- 
pected of disloyalty to the Government. I assisted, 
too, in supervising the spies who were going back and 
forth between the lines. Among these I remember 
one, a sort of peddler — whose name I will call Morse 
— who traveled between Washington and Richmond. 
When he went down it was in the character of a man 
who had entirely hoodwinked the Washington authori- 

235 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

ties, and who, in spite of them, or by some corruption 
or other, always brought with him into the Confederate 
lines something that the people wanted — dresses for the 
ladies or some little luxury that they couldn't get other- 
wise. The things that he took with him were always 
supervised by our agents before he went away. When 
he came back he brought us in exchange a lot of valu- 
able information. He was doubtless a spy on both 
sides; but as we got a great deal of information, which 
could be had in no other way, about the strength of the 
Confederate armies, and the preparations and the move- 
ments of the enemy, we allowed the thing to go on. 
The man really did good service for us that summer, 
and, as we were frequently able to verify by other means 
the important information he brought, we had a great 
deal of confidence in him. 

Early in October, 1864, he came back from Rich- 
mond, and, as usual, went to Baltimore to get his outfit 
for the return trip. When he presented himself again 
in Washington, the chief detective of the War Depart- 
ment, Colonel Baker, examined his goods carefully, but 
this time he found that Morse had many things that 
we could not allow him to take. Among his stuff were 
uniforms and other military goods, and all this, of 
course, was altogether too contraband to be passed. 
We had all his bills, telling where he had bought these 
things in Baltimore. They amounted to perhaps 
twenty-five thousand dollars, or more. So we confis- 
cated the contraband goods, and put Morse in prison. 

But the merchants in Baltimore were partners in 
his guilt, and Secretary Stanton declared he would ar- 

236 



The Secret Service of the War. 

rest every one of them and put them in prison until the 
affair could be straightened up. He turned the matter 
over to me then, as he was going to Fort Monroe for 
a few days. I immediately sent Assistant-Adjutant-Gen- 
eral Lawrence to Baltimore with orders to see that all 
persons implicated were arrested. Lawrence tele- 
graphed me, on October 16th, that the case would in- 
volve the arrest of two hundred citizens. I reported 
to the Secretary, but he was determined to go ahead. 
The next morning ninety-seven of the leading citizens 
of Baltimore were arrested, brought to Washington, 
and confined in Old Capitol Prison, principally in soli- 
tary cells. There was great satisfaction among the 
Union people of the town, but great indignation among 
Southern sympathizers. Presently a deputation from 
Baltimore came over to see President Lincoln. It was 
an outrage, they said; the gentlemen arrested were 
most respectable merchants and faultless citizens, and 
they demanded that they all be set instantly at liberty 
and damages paid them. Mr. Lincoln sent the deputa- 
tion over to the War Department, and Mr. Stanton, 
who had returned by this time, sent for me. " All Balti- 
more is coming here," he said. " Sit down and hear 
the discussion." 

They came in, the bank presidents and boss mer- 
chants of Baltimore — there must have been at least fifty 
million dollars represented in the deputation — and sat 
down around the fire in the Secretary's office. Presently 
they began to make their speeches, detailing the cir- 
cumstances and the wickedness of this outrage. There 
was no ground for it, they said, no justification. After 

237 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

half a dozen of them had spoken, Mr. Stanton asked one 
after another if he had anything more to say, and they 
all said no. Then Stanton began, and delivered one of 
the most eloquent speeches that I ever heard. He de- 
scribed the beginning of the war, for which, he said, 
there w r as no justification; being beaten in an election 
was no reason for destroying the Government. Then 
he went on to the fact that half a million of our young 
men had been laid in untimely graves by this conspiracy 
of the slave interest. He outlined the whole conspiracy 
in the most solemn and impressive terms, and then he 
depicted the offense that this man Morse, aided by these 
several merchants, had committed. " Gentlemen," he 
said, " if you would like to examine the bills of what 
he was taking to the enemy, here they are." 

When Stanton had finished, these gentlemen, with- 
out answering a word, got up and one by one went 
away. That was the only speech I ever listened to that 
cleared out the entire audience. 

Early in the winter of 1 863-' 64 a curious thing hap- 
pened in the secret service of the War Department. 
Some time in the February or March before, a slender 
and prepossessing young fellow, between twenty-two 
and twenty-six apparently, had applied at the War De- 
partment for employment as a spy within the Confed- 
erate lines. 

The main body of the Army of Northern Virginia 
was then lying at Gordonsville, and the headquarters of 
the Army of the Potomac were at Culpeper Courthouse. 
General Grant had not yet come from the West to take 
command of the momentous campaign which afterward 

238 



c The Secret Service of the War. 

opened with his movement into the Wilderness on the 
5th of May. 

The young man who sought this terrible service 
was well dressed and intelligent, and professed to be 
animated by motives purely patriotic. He was a clerk 
in one of the departments. All that he asked was that 
he should have a horse and an order which would carry 
him safely through the Federal lines, and, in return, he 
undertook to bring information from General Lee's 
army and from the Government of the Confederacy in 
Richmond. He understood perfectly the perilous na- 
ture of the enterprise he proposed. 

Finding that the applicant bore a good character 
in the office where he was employed, it was determined 
to accept his proposal. He was furnished with a horse, 
an order that would pass him through the Union lines, 
and also, I believe, with a moderate sum of money, and 
then he departed. Two or three weeks later he reported 
at the War Department. He had been in Gordonsville 
and Richmond, had obtained the confidence of the Con- 
federate authorities, and was the bearer of a letter from 
Mr. Jefferson Davis to Mr. Clement C. Clay, the agent 
of the Confederate Government in Canada, then known 
to be stationed at St. Catherine's, not far from Niagara 
Falls. Mr. Clay had as his official associate Jacob 
Thompson, of Mississippi, who had been Secretary of 
the Interior in the Cabinet of President Buchanan, and, 
like Mr. Clay, had been serving the Confederate Gov- 
ernment ever since its organization. 

The letter from Mr. Davis the young man exhibited, 
but only the outside of the envelope was examined. 

239 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

The address was in the handwriting of the Confederate 
chief, and the statement of our young adventurer that 
it was merely a letter of recommendation advising 
Messrs. Clay and Thompson that they might repose 
confidence in the bearer, since he was ardently de- 
voted to the Confederate cause and anxious to serve 
the great purpose that it had in view, appeared en- 
tirely probable; so the young man was allowed to 
proceed to Niagara Falls and Canada. He made some 
general report upon the condition of the rebel army at 
Gordonsville, but it was of no particular value, except 
that in its more interesting features it agreed with 
our information from other sources. 

Our spy was not long in returning from St. Cath- 
erine's with a dispatch which was also allowed to pass 
unopened, upon his assurance that it contained nothing 
of importance. In this way he went back and forward 
from Richmond to St. Catherine's once or twice. We 
supplied him with money to a limited extent, and also 
with one or two more horses. He said that he got 
some money from the Confederates, but had not 
thought it prudent to accept from them anything more 
than very small sums, since his professed zeal for the 
Confederate cause forbade his receiving anything for 
his traveling expenses beyond what was absolutely 
necessary. 

During the summer of 1864 the activity of Grant's 
campaign, and the fighting which prevailed all along 
the line, somewhat impeded our young man's expedi- 
tions, but did not stop them. All his subsequent dis- 
patches, however, whether coming from Richmond or 

240 



tfhe Secret Service of the War. 

from Canada, were regularly brought to the War De- 
partment, and were opened, and in every case a copy 
of them was kept. As it was necessary to break the 
seals and destroy the envelopes in opening them, there 
was some difficulty in sending them forward in what 
should appear to be the original wrappers. Coming 
from Canada, the paper employed was English, and 
there was a good deal of trouble in procuring paper 
of the same appearance. I remember also that one im- 
portant dispatch, which was sealed with Mr. Clay's seal, 
had to be delayed somewhat while we had an imitation 
seal engraved. But these delays were easily accounted 
for at Richmond by the pretense that they had been 
caused by accidents upon the road and by the neces- 
sity of avoiding the Federal pickets. At any rate, the 
confidence of the Confederates in our agent and in 
theirs never seemed to be shaken by any of these 
occurrences. 

Finally our dispatch bearer reported one day at the 
War Department with a document which, he said, was 
of extraordinary consequence. It was found to contain 
an account of a scheme for setting fire to New York 
and Chicago by means of clock-work machines that were 
to be placed in several of the large hotels and places of 
amusement — particularly in Barnum's Museum in New 
York — and to be set off simultaneously, so that the fire 
department in each place would be unable to attend 
to the great number of calls that would be made upon 
it on account of these Confederate conflagrations in 
so many different quarters, and thus these cities might 
be greatly damaged, or even destroyed. 
17 241 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

This dispatch was duly sealed up again and was 
taken to Richmond, and a confidential officer was at 
once sent to New York to warn General Dix, who was 
in command there, of the Confederate project. The 
general was very unwilling to believe that any such 
design could be seriously entertained, and Mr. John A. 
Kennedy, then superintendent of police, was equally in- 
credulous. But the Secretary of War was peremptory 
in his orders, and when the day of the incendiary at- 
tempt arrived both the military and the police made 
every preparation to prevent the threatened catastro- 
phe. The officer who went from Washington was 
lodged in the St. Nicholas Hotel, one of the large estab- 
lishments that were to be set on fire, and while he was 
washing his hands in the evening, preparatory to going 
to dinner, a fire began burning in the room next to his. 
It was promptly put out, and was found to be caused 
by a clock-work apparatus which had been left in that 
room by a lodger who had departed some hours before. 
Other fires likewise occurred. In every instance these 
fires were extinguished without much damage and with- 
out exciting any considerable public attention, thanks 
to the precautions that had been taken in consequence 
of the warning derived from Mr. Clay's dispatch to Mr. 
Benjamin in Richmond. The plan of setting fire to 
Chicago proved even more abortive; I do not remem- 
ber that any report of actual burning was received from 
there. 

Later in the fall, after the military operations had 
substantially terminated for the season, a dispatch was 
brought from Canada, signed by Mr. Clay, and addressed 

242 



'The Secret Service of the War, 

to Mr. Benjamin, as Secretary of State in the Confed- 
erate Government, conveying the information that a 
new and really formidable military expedition against 
northern Vermont — particularly against Burlington, if 
I am not mistaken — had been organized and fitted out 
in Canada, and would make its attack as soon as prac- 
ticable. This was after the well-known attempt upon 
St. Albans and Lake Champlain, on October 19, 1864, 
and promised to be much more injurious. The dispatch 
reached Washington one Sunday morning, and was 
brought to the War Department as usual, but its im- 
portance in the eyes of the Confederate agents had led 
to its being prepared for transportation with uncommon 
care. It was placed between two thicknesses of the pair 
of re-enforced cavalry trousers which the messenger 
wore, and sewed up so that when ke was mounted it was 
held between his thigh and the saddle. 

Having been carefully ripped out and opened, it was 
immediately carried to Mr. Stanton, who was confined 
to his house by a cold. He read it. u This is serious," 
he said. " Go over to the White House and ask the 
President to come here." Mr. Lincoln was found dress- 
ing to go to church, and he was soon driven to Mr. 
Stanton's house. After discussing the subject in every 
aspect, and considering thoroughly the probability that 
to keep the dispatch would put an end to communica- 
tions by this channel, they determined that it must be 
kept. The conclusive reason for this step was that it 
established beyond question the fact that the Confed- 
erates, while sheltering themselves behind the British 
Government in Canada, had organized and fitted out a 

243 



Recollections of the Civil IVar. 

military expedition against the United States. But 
while the dispatch afforded evidence that could not be 
gainsaid, the mere possession of it was not sufficient. 
It must be found in the possession of the Confederate 
dispatch bearer, and the circumstances attending its 
capture must be established in such a manner that the 
British Foreign Office would not be able to dispute the 
genuineness of the document. " We must have this 
paper for Seward," said Mr. Lincoln. " As for the 
young man, get him out of the scrape if you can." 

Accordingly, the paper was taken back to the War 
Department and sewed up again in the trousers whence 
it had been taken three hours before. The bearer was 
instructed to start at dusk on the road which he usually 
took in passing through the lines, to be at a certain 
tavern outside of Alexandria at nine o'clock in the 
evening, and to stop there to water his horse. Then 
information was sent through Major-General Augur, 
commandant of Washington and the surrounding re- 
gion, to Colonel Henry H. Wells, then provost marshal 
general of the defenses south of the Potomac, stationed 
at Alexandria, directing him to be at this tavern at 
nine o'clock in the evening, and to arrest a Confederate 
dispatch bearer, concerning whom authentic informa- 
tion had been received at the War Department, and 
whose description was furnished for his (Wells's) guid- 
ance. He was to do the messenger no injury, but to 
make sure of his person and of all papers that he might 
have upon him, and to bring him under a sufficient 
guard directly to the War Department. And General 
Augur was directed to be present there, in order to as- 

244 



The Secret Service of the War. 

sist in the examination of the prisoner, and to verify- 
any dispatches that might be found. 

Just before midnight a carriage drove up to the 
door of the War Department with a soldier on the box 
and two soldiers on the front seat within, while the back 
seat was occupied by Colonel Wells and the prisoner. 
Of course, no one but the two or three who had been 
in the secret was aware that this gentleman had walked 
quietly out of the War Department only a few hours 
previously, and that the paper which was the cause of 
the entire ceremony had been sewed up in his clothes 
just before his departure. Colonel Wells reported that, 
while the prisoner had offered no resistance, he was very 
violent and outrageous in his language, and that he 
boasted fiercely of his devotion to the Confederacy and 
his detestation of the Union. During the examination 
which now followed he said nothing except to answer 
a few questions, but his bearing — patient, scornful, un- 
daunted — was that of an incomparable actor. If Mr. 
Clay and Mr. Benjamin had been present, they would 
have been more than ever certain that he was one of 
their noblest young men. His hat, boots, and other 
articles of his clothing were taken off one by one. The 
hat and boots were first searched, and finally the dis- 
patch was found in his trousers and taken out. Its na- 
ture and the method of its capture were stated in a 
memorandum which was drawn up on the spot and 
signed by General Augur and Colonel Wells and one 
or two other officers who were there for the purpose, 
and then the dispatch bearer himself was sent off to the 
Old Capitol Prison. 

245 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

The dispatch, with the documents of verification, 
was handed over to Mr. Seward for use in London, 
and a day or two afterward the warden of the Old 
Capitol Prison was directed to give the dispatch 
bearer an opportunity of escaping, with a proper 
show of attempted prevention. One afternoon the 
spy walked into my office. "Ah! " said I, "you have 
run away." 

" Yes, sir," he answered. 

" Did they shoot at you? " 

"They did, and didn't hit me; but I didn't think 
that would answer the purpose. So I shot myself 
through the arm." 

He showed me the wound. It was through the fleshy 
part of the forearm, and due care had been taken not 
to break any bones. A more deliberate and less dan- 
gerous wound could not be, and yet it did not look 
trivial. 

He was ordered to get away to Canada as promptly 
as possible, so that he might explain the loss of his 
dispatch before it should become known there by any 
other means. An advertisement offering two thousand 
dollars for his recapture was at once inserted in the 
New York Herald, the Pittsburgh Journal, and the 
Chicago Tribune. No one ever appeared to claim the 
reward, but in about a week the escaped prisoner re- 
turned from Canada with new dispatches that had been 
intrusted to him. They contained nothing of impor- 
tance, however. The wound in his arm had borne testi- 
mony in his favor, and the fact that he had hurried 
through to St. Catherine's without having it dressed 

246 



The Secret Service of the War. 

was thought to afford conclusive evidence of his fidelity 
to the Confederate cause. 

The war was ended soon after this adventure, and, 
as his services had been of very great value, a new place, 
with the assurance of lasting employment, was found 
for the young man in one of the bureaus of the War 
Department. He did not remain there very long, how- 
ever, and I don't know what became of him. He was 
one of the cleverest creatures I ever saw. His style of 
patriotic lying was sublime; it amounted to genius. 



247 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

A VISIT TO SHERIDAN IN THE VALLEY. 

Mr. Dana carries to Sheridan his major-general's commission — A ride 
through the Army of the Shenandoah — The affection of Sheridan's 
soldiers for the general — How he explained it — His ideas about 
personal courage in battle — The War Department and the railroads 
— How the department worked for Lincoln's re-election — Election 
night of November, 1864 — Lincoln reads aloud passages from Pe- 
troleum V. Nasby while the returns from the States come in. 

It was just after the arrest of the Baltimore mer- 
chants, in October, 1864, that I visited Sheridan at his 
headquarters in the Shenandoah Valley. He had fin- 
ished the work of clearing out the valley by the battle 
of Cedar Creek on October 19th, and the Government 
wanted to recognize the victory by promoting him to 
the rank of major general in the regular army. There 
were numerous volunteer officers who were also officers 
in the regular army, and it was regarded as a consider- 
able distinction. The appointment was made, and then, 
as an additional compliment to General Sheridan, in- 
stead of sending him the commission by an ordinary 
officer from the department, Mr. Stanton decided that 
I would better deliver it. I started on October 226., 
going by special train to Harper's Ferry, whither I tele- 
graphed for an escort to be ready for me. I was de- 
layed so that I did not get started from Harper's Ferry 
until about five o'clock on the morning of October 23d. 
It was a distance of about fifty miles to Sheridan, and 

248 



A Visit to Sheridan in the Valley. 

by riding all day I got there about eleven o'clock at 
night. Sheridan had gone to bed, but in time of war 
one never delays in carrying out orders, whatever their 
nature. The general was awakened, and soon was out 
of his tent; and there, by the flare of an army torch and 
in the presence of a few sleepy aides-de-camp and of my 
own tired escort, I presented to Sheridan his commis- 
sion as major general in the regular army. 

Sheridan did not say much in reply to my little 
speech, nor could he have been expected to under the 
circumstances, though he showed lively satisfaction in 
the Government's appreciation of his services, and spoke 
most heartily, I remember, of the manner in which the 
administration had always supported him. 

The morning after this little ceremony, when we 
had finished our breakfast, the general asked me if I 
would not like to ride through the army with him. It 
was exactly what I did want to do, and we were soon 
on horseback and off, accompanied by four of his of- 
ficers. We rode through the entire army that morning, 
dismounting now and then to give me an opportunity 
to pay my respects to several officers whom I knew. 
I was struck, in riding through the lines, by the uni- 
versal demonstration of personal affection for Sheridan. 
Everybody seemed personally to be attached to him. 
He was like the most popular man after an election — 
the whole force everywhere honored him. Finally I 
said to the general: "I wish you would explain one 
thing to me. Here I find all these people of every rank 
— generals, sergeants, corporals, and private soldiers; in 
fact, everybody — manifesting a personal affection for 

249 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

you that I have never seen in any other army, not even 
in the Army of the Tennessee for Grant. I have never 
seen anything like it. Tell me what is the reason? " 

" Mr. Dana," said he, " I long ago made up my mind 
that it was not a good plan to fight battles with paper 
orders — that is, for the commander to stand on a hill 
in the rear and send his aides-de-camp with written or- 
ders to the different commanders. My practice has 
always been to fight in the front rank." 

" Well," said I, " General, that is dangerous; in the 
front rank a man is much more liable to be killed than 
he is in the rear." 

" Well," said he, " I know that there is a certain 
risk in it; but, in my judgment, the advantage is much 
greater than the risk, and I have come to the conclu- 
sion that that is the right thing to do. That is the rea- 
son the men like me. They know that when the hard 
pinch comes I am exposed just as much as any of 
them." 

" But are you never afraid? " I asked. 

" If I was I should not be ashamed of it," he said. 
" If I should follow my natural impulse, I should run 
away always at the beginning of the danger; the men 
who say they are never afraid in a battle do not tell the 
truth." 

I talked a great deal with Sheridan and his officers 
while at Cedar Creek on the condition of the valley, 
and as to what should be done to hold it. The active 
campaign seemed to be over in this region for that 
year. The enemy were so decidedly beaten and scat- 
tered, and driven so far to the south, that they could 

250 



A Visit to Sheridan in the Valley. 

scarcely be expected to collect their forces for another 
attempt during the season. Besides, the devastation 
of the valley, extending as it did for a distance of about 
one hundred miles, rendered it almost impossible that 
either the Confederates or our own forces should make 
a new campaign in that territory. It looked to me as 
if, when Sheridan had completed the same process down 
the valley to the vicinity of the Potomac, and when 
the stores of forage which were yet to be found were 
all destroyed or removed, the difficulty of any new 
offensive operations on either side would be greatly 
increased. 

The key to the Shenandoah Valley was, in Sheri- 
dan's judgment, the line of the Opequan Creek, which 
was rather a deep caiion that an ordinary watercourse. 
Sheridan's idea I understood to be to fall back to the 
proper defensive point upon that creek, and there to 
construct fortifications which would effectually cover 
the approach to the Potomac. 

I left Sheridan at Cedar Creek, and went back to 
Washington by way of Manassas Gap. 

All through the fall of 1864 and the following win- 
ter I remained in Washington, very much occupied with 
the regular routine business of the department and vari- 
ous matters of incidental interest. Some of these in- 
cidents I shall group together here, without strict regard 
to sequence. 

An important part of the work of the department 
was in relation to the railroads and to railroad trans- 
portation. Sometimes it was a whole army corps to 
be moved. At another time the demand would be 

251 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

equally sudden and urgent, if less vital to the Union 
cause. I remember particularly the great turkey move- 
ment in November of that year. The presidential elec- 
tion was hardly over before the people of the North 
began to prepare Thanksgiving boxes for the army. 
George Bliss, Jr., of New York, telegraphed me, on 
November 16th, that they had twenty thousand turkeys 
ready in that city to send to the front; and the next day, 
fearing, I suppose, that that wasn't enough, he wired: 
" It would be a very great convenience in our turkey 
business if I could know definitely the approximate 
number of men in each of armies of Potomac, James, 
and Shenandoah, respectively." 

From Philadelphia I received a message asking for 
transportation to Sheridan's army for " boxes contain- 
ing four thousand turkeys, and Heaven knows what 
else, as a Thanksgiving dinner for the brave fellows." 
And so it was from all over the country. The North 
not only poured out food and clothing generously for 
our own men, but, when Savannah was entered by Sher- 
man, great quantities of provisions were sent there for 
gratuitous distribution, and when Charleston fell every 
effort was made to relieve destitution. 

A couple of months later, in January, 1865, a piece 
of work not so different from the " turkey business," 
but on a rather larger scale, fell to me. This was the 
transfer of the Twenty-third Army Corps, commanded 
by Major-General John M. Schofield, from its position 
on the Tennessee River to Chesapeake Bay. There 
being no prospect of a winter campaign under Thomas, 
Grant had ordered the corps transferred as quickly as 

252 



A Visit to Sheridan in the Valley. 

possible, and Mr. Stanton turned over the direction 
to me. On January ioth I telegraphed to Grant at 
City Point the plan to be followed. This, briefly, was 
to send Colonel Lewis B. Parsons, chief of railroad and 
river transportation, to the West to take charge of the 
corps. I proposed to move the whole body by boats to 
Parkersburg if navigation allowed, and thence by the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to Annapolis, for I re- 
membered well with what promptness and success 
Hooker's forces, the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, were 
moved into Tennessee in 1863 by that road. A capital 
advantage of that line was that it avoided all large towns 
— and the temptations of large towns were bad for the 
soldiers in transit. If the Ohio River should be frozen, 
I proposed to move the corps by rail from Cairo, Evans- 
ville, and Jeffersonville to Parkersburg or Bellaire, ac- 
cording to circumstances. 

Commanders in the vicinity of the corps were ad- 
vised of the change, and ordered to prepare steamboats 
and transports. Loyal officers of railroads were re- 
quested to meet Colonel Parsons at given points to 
arrange for the concentration of rolling stock in case 
the river could not be used. Liquor shops were ordered 
closed along the route, and arrangements were made 
for the comfort of the troops by supplying to them, 
as often as once in every hundred miles of travel, an 
abundance of hot coffee in addition to their rations. 

Colonel Parsons proceeded at once to Louisville, 
where he arrived on the 13th. By the morning of the 
1 8th he had started the first division from the mouth 
of the Tennessee up the Ohio, and had transportation 

253 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

ready for the rest of the corps. He then hurried to 
Cincinnati, where, as the river was too full of ice to 
permit a further transfer by water, he loaded about 
three thousand men on the cars waiting there and started 
them eastward. The rest of the corps rapidly followed. 
In spite of fogs and ice on the river, and broken rails 
and machinery on the railroads, the entire army corps 
was encamped on the banks of the Potomac on Febru- 
ary 2d. 

The distance over which the corps was transported 
was nearly fourteen hundred miles, about equally di- 
vided between land and water. The average time of 
transportation, from the embarkment on the Tennessee 
to the arrival on the banks of the Potomac, did not 
exceed eleven days; and what was still more important 
was the fact that during the whole movement not a 
single accident happened causing loss of life, limb, or 
property, except in a single instance where a soldier 
improperly jumped from the car, under apprehension 
of danger, and thus lost his life. Had he remained quiet, 
he would have been as safe as were his comrades of the 
same car. 

Much of the success of the movement was due to 
the hearty co-operation of J. W. Garrett, president of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Colonel Parsons 
did not say too much when he wrote, in his report of 
the transfer of Schofield's troops: 

The circumstances, I think, render it not invidious 
that I should especially refer to the management of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, where indomitable 
will, energy, and superior ability have been so often 

254 



A Visit to Sheridan in the Valley. 

and so conspicuously manifested, and where such in- 
valuable service has been rendered to the Govern- 
ment; a road nearly four hundred miles in length, so 
often broken and apparently destroyed, so constantly 
subjected to rebel incursions, that, had it been under 
ordinary management, it would long since have ceased 
operation; yet, notwithstanding all the difficulties of 
the severe winter season, the great disorganization of 
employees necessarily incident to a road thus situated, 
its most extraordinary curves, grades, bridges, tunnels, 
and the mountain heights it scales, it has moved this 
large force in the shortest possible time, with almost 
the exactness and regularity of ordinary passenger 
trains, and with a freedom from accident that, I think, 
has seldom, if ever, been paralleled. 

At the end of the war, when the department's en- 
ergies were devoted to getting itself as quickly and as 
thoroughly as possible upon a peace footing, it fell to 
me to examine the condition of the numerous railroads 
which the Government had seized and used in the time 
of active military operations, and to recommend what 
was to be done with them. This readjustment was not 
the least difficult of the complicated questions of dis- 
armament. The Government had spent millions of dol- 
lars on improvements to some of these military rail- 
roads while operating them. My report was not fin- 
ished till late in May, 1865, and as it contains much 
out-of-the-way information on the subject, and has 
never been published, I introduce it here in full: 

Washington City, May 2g, i86j. 
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 

Sir: I have the honor to report that I have exam- 
ined the subject of the disposition to be made of the 
railroads in the States lately in rebellion, referred to me 

255 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

in connection with the report of the quartermaster gen- 
eral, and the rules which he has recommended to be 
established. The second rule proposed by the quarter- 
master general provides that no charge shall be made 
against a railroad for expense of materials or expense 
of operation while it has been in the hands of the mili- 
tary authorities of the United States. In other words, 
he proposes to restore every railroad to its claimants 
without any special consideration from them for any 
improvements which the United States may have made 
upon it. 

It is true in his fourth rule he includes past ex- 
penditures of defense and repair as an equivalent for the 
use of the road while it has been in the public service, 
but in many cases this does not appear to me to be suf- 
ficient. Our expenditures upon some of these roads 
have been very heavy. For instance, we have added to 
the value of the road from Nashville to Chattanooga 
at least a million and a half dollars. When that road 
was recaptured from the public enemy it was in a very 
bad state of repair. Its embankments were in many 
places partially washed away, its iron was what is known 
as the U rail, and was laid in the defective old-fashioned 
manner, upon longitudinal sleepers, without cross ties. 
These sleepers were also in a state of partial decay, so 
that trains could not be run with speed or safety. All 
these defects have now been remedied. The roadbed 
has been placed in first-rate condition. The iron is now 
a heavy T rail, laid in new iron the entire length of the 
line. Extensive repair shops have also been erected, 
well furnished with the necessary tools and machinery. 
I do not conceive that it would be just or advisable to 
restore this road, with its improved tracks and these 
costly shops, without any equivalent for the great value 
of these improvements other than the use we have made 
of it since its recapture. The fact that we have replaced 
the heavy and expensive bridges over Elk, Duck, and 
Tennessee Rivers, and over Running Water Creek, 
should also not be forgotten in deciding this question. 

256 



A Visit to Sheridan in the Valley. 

The above general remarks are also applicable to 
that portion of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad 
between the Potomac and the Rapidan. Very exten- 
sive repair shops have been erected at Alexandria, and 
furnished with costly machinery for the use of the road, 
and I understand that the iron and the roadbed are 
now much better than when the Government began to 
use it. 

The same is still more the case with the road be- 
tween City Point and Petersburg. When that road was 
recaptured from the public enemy not only was the 
roadbed a good deal washed away and damaged, but 
neither rails nor sound ties were left upon it. Now 
it is in the best possible condition. Can any one con- 
tend that it ought to be restored to its claimants with- 
out charge for the new ties and iron? 

The case of the railroad from Harper's Ferry to 
Winchester is no less striking. It was a very poor 
road before the war, and was early demolished by the 
rebels. Not a pound of iron, not a sound tie, was to 
be found upon the line when we began its reconstruc- 
tion in December last. We have spent about five hun- 
dred thousand dollars in bringing it to its present con- 
dition, and I have no doubt our improvements could be 
sold for that sum to the Baltimore and Ohio Company 
should they obtain the title to the roadbed from the 
proper authorities of Virginia. Why, then, should we 
give them up for nothing? 

On the Morehead City and Goldsboro* Railroad we 
have rebuilt twenty-seven miles of the track, and fur- 
nished it with new iron and laid new ties on many miles 
more since February last. These views also hold good, 
unless I am misinformed, with regard to the railroad 
leading into New Orleans, the Memphis and Little 
Rock Railroad, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, 
and the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. They have all 
been improved at great expense while in our hands. 

In the third rule proposed by the quartermaster 
general it is provided that all materials for permanent 
18 257 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

way used in the repair and construction of any road, 
and all damaged material of this class which may be 
left along its route, having been thrown there during 
operation of destruction and repair, shall be considered 
as part of the road, and given up with it also without 
compensation. If this means to give up any new iron 
that we have on the line of any road, it seems to me 
to concede to the parties to whom the roads are to be 
surrendered more than they have a right to claim. For 
instance, there is now lying at Alexandria, on the line 
of the Orange and Alexandria road, iron sufficient to 
lay thirty miles of track. It seems manifest to me that 
this iron should not be surrendered to the road without 
being paid for. In my judgment it is also advisable to 
establish the principle that the Government will not 
pay for the damages done any road in the prosecution 
of hostilities, any more than it will pay for similar dam- 
ages done by the enemy. With these exceptions, the 
principles proposed by the quartermaster general ap- 
pear to be correct. 

In accordance with these observations, I would 
recommend that the following rules be determined upon 
to govern the settlement of these matters: 

i. The United States will, as soon as it can dis- 
pense with military occupation and control of any road 
of which the Quartermaster's Department is in charge, 
turn it over to the parties asking to receive it who may 
appear to have the best claim, and be able to operate 
it in such a manner as to secure the speedy movement 
of all military stores and troops, the quartermaster gen- 
eral, upon the advice of the commander of the depart- 
ment, to determine when this can be done, subject to 
the approval of the Secretary of War. 

2. Where any State has a loyal board of works, or 
other executive officers charged with the supervision 
of railroads, such road shall be turned over to such 
board of officers rather than to any corporations or pri- 
vate parties. 

3. When any railroad shall be so turned over, a 

258 



A Fisit to Sheridan in the Valley. 

board of appraisers shall be appointed, who shall esti- 
mate and determine the value of any improvements 
which may have been made by the United States, either 
in the road itself or in its repair shop and permanent 
machinery, and the amount of such improvements shall 
be a lien upon the road. 

4. The parties to whom the road is turned over shall 
have the option of purchasing at their value any tools, 
iron, or any other materials for permanent way which 
have been provided by the United States for the im- 
provement of the road and have not been used. 

5. All other movable property, including rolling 
stock of all kinds, the property of the United States, to 
be sold at auction, after full public notice, to the high- 
est bidder. 

6. All rolling stock and materials of railroads cap- 
tured by the forces of the United States, and not con- 
sumed, destroyed, or permanently fixed elsewhere — as, 
for instance, when captured iron has been laid upon 
other roads — shall be placed at the disposal of the roads 
which originally owned them, and shall be given up to 
these roads as soon as it can be spared and they appear 
by proper agents authorized to receive it. 

7. No payment or credit shall be given to any rail- 
road recaptured from the enemy for its occupation or 
use by the United States to take possession of it, but 
its capture and restoration shall be considered a suf- 
ficient consideration for all such use; nor shall any in- 
demnity be paid for injuries done to the property of 
any road by the forces of the United States during the 
continuance of the war. 

8. Roads which have not been operated by the 
United States Quartermaster's Department not to be 
interfered with unless under military necessity ; such 
roads to be left in the possession of such persons as 
may now have possession, subject only to the removal 
of every agent, director, president, superintendent, or 
operative who has not taken the oath of allegiance to 
the United States. 

259 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

9. When superintendents in actual possession de- 
cline to take the oath, some competent person shall be 
appointed as receiver of the road, who will administer 
its affairs and account for its receipts to the board of 
directors, who may be formally recognized as the legal 
and formal board of managers, the receiver to be ap- 
pointed by the Treasury Department, as in the case of 
abandoned property. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. A. Dana, 
Assistant Secretary of War. 

These recommendations were carried out partly in 
the transfer, which was practically complete by the end 
of 1865. The department decided upon a somewhat 
more liberal policy than I had thought justifiable. The 
roads and bridges were transferred practically in the 
same condition as they were in at the time of transfer. 
It was believed that this generosity would react favor- 
ably upon the revenue and credit of the nation, and 
there is no doubt that it did have a good influence. 

During the presidential campaign of 1864, which 
resulted in Lincoln's re-election and in the further prose- 
cution of the war upon the lines of Lincoln's policy, 
we were busy in the department arranging for soldiers 
to go home to vote, and also for the taking of ballots 
in the army. There was a constant succession of tele- 
grams from all parts of the country requesting that leave 
of absence be extended to this or that officer, in order 
that his district at home might have the benefit of his 
vote and political influence. Furloughs were asked for 
private soldiers whose presence in close districts was 
deemed of especial importance, and there was a wide- 

260 



A Visit to Sheridan in the Valley. 

spread demand that men on detached service and con- 
valescents in hospitals be sent home. 

All the power and influence of the War Department, 
then something enormous from the vast expenditure 
and extensive relations of the war, was employed to se- 
cure the re-election of Mr. Lincoln. The political strug- 
gle was most intense, and the interest taken in it, both 
in the White House and in the War Department, was 
almost painful. After the arduous toil of the canvass, 
there was naturally a great suspense of feeling until 
the result of the voting should be ascertained. On 
November 8th, election day, I went over to the War 
Department about half past eight o'clock in the even- 
ing, and found the President and Mr. Stanton together 
in the Secretary's office. General Eckert, who then had 
charge of the telegraph department of the War Office, 
was coming in constantly with telegrams containing 
election returns. Mr. Stanton would read them, and 
the President would look at them and comment upon 
them. Presently there came a lull in the returns, and 
Mr. Lincoln called me to a place by his side. 

" Dana," said he, " have you ever read any of the 
writings of Petroleum V. Nasby? " 

" No, sir," I said; " I have only looked at some of 
them, and they seemed to be quite funny." 

"Well," said he, "let me read you a specimen"; 
and, pulling out a thin yellow-covered pamphlet from 
his breast pocket, he began to read aloud. Mr. Stanton 
viewed these proceedings with great impatience, as I 
could see, but Mr. Lincoln paid no attention to that. 
He would read a page or a story, pause to consider a 

261 



Recollections of the Civil War, 

new election telegram, and then open the book again 
and go ahead with a new passage. Finally, Mr. Chase 
came in, and presently somebody else, and then the 
reading was interrupted. 

Mr. Stanton went to the door and beckoned me into 
the next room. I shall never forget the fire of his in- 
dignation at what seemed to him to be mere nonsense. 
The idea that when the safety of the republic was thus 
at issue, when the control of an empire was to be de- 
termined by a few figures brought in by the telegraph, 
the leader, the man most deeply concerned, not merely 
for himself but for his country, could turn aside to read 
such balderdash and to laugh at such frivolous jests was, 
to his mind, repugnant, even damnable. He could not 
understand, apparently, that it was by the relief which 
these jests afforded to the strain of mind under which 
Lincoln had so long been living, and to the natural 
gloom of a melancholy and desponding temperament — 
this was Mr. Lincoln's prevailing characteristic — that 
the safety and sanity of his intelligence were maintained 
and preserved. 



262 



CHAPTER XIX. 

" ON TO RICHMOND " AT LAST! 

The fall of the Confederacy — In Richmond just after the evacuation — 
A search for Confederate archives — Lincoln's propositions to the 
Virginians — A meeting with the Confederate Assistant Secretary 
of War — Andrew Johnson turns up at Richmond — His views as to 
the necessity of punishing rebels — The first Sunday services at the 
Confederate capital under the old flag — News of Lee's surrender 
reaches Richmond — Back to Washington with Grant. 

It was evident to all of us, as the spring of 1865 
came on, that the war was drawing to a close. Sher- 
man was coming northward from his triumphant march 
to the sea, and would soon be in communication with 
Grant, who, ever since I left him in July, 1864, had 
been watching Petersburg and Richmond, where Lee's 
army was shut up. At the end of March Grant ad- 
vanced. On April 1st Sheridan won the battle of Five 
Forks; then on April 2d came the successful assaults 
which drove Lee from Petersburg. 

On the morning of April 3d, before I had left my 
house, Mr. Stanton sent for me to come immediately 
to the War Department. When I reached his office, 
he told me that Richmond had surrendered, and that 
he wanted me to go down at once to report the con- 
dition of affairs. I started as soon as I could get a 
steamboat, Roscoe Conkling and my son Paul accom- 
panying me. We arrived at City Point early on April 

263 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

5th. Little was known there of the condition of things 
in Richmond. There were but a few officers left at the 
place, and those were overwhelmed with work. I had 
expected to find the President at City Point, he having 
been in the vicinity for several days, but Mr. Lincoln 
had gone up to Richmond the day before. 

I started up the river immediately, and reached the 
town early in the afternoon. I went at once to find 
Major-General Godfrey Weitzel, who was in command 
of the United States forces. He was at his headquarters, 
which were in Jefferson Davis's former residence. I had 
heard down the river that Davis had sold his furniture 
at auction some days before the evacuation, but I found 
when I reached the house that this was a mistake — the 
furniture was all there. 

Weitzel told me that he had learned at three o'clock 
in the morning of Monday, April 3d, that Richmond 
was being evacuated. He had moved forward at day- 
light, first taking care to give his men breakfast, in the 
expectation that they might have to fight. He met 
no opposition, and on entering the city was greeted with 
a hearty welcome from the mass of people. The mayor 
went out to meet him to surrender the city, but missed 
him on the road. 

I took a walk around Richmond that day to see 
how much the city was injured. The Confederates in 
retreating had set it on fire, and the damage done in 
that way was enormous; nearly everything between 
Main Street and the river, for about three quarters of a 
mile, was burned. The custom house and the Spots- 
wood Hotel were the only important buildings remain- 

264 



" On to Richmond" at Last! 

ing in the burned district. The block opposite the 
Spotswood, including the Confederate War Depart- 
ment building, was entirely consumed. The Peters- 
burg Railroad bridge, and that of the Danville road, 
were destroyed. All the enemy's vessels, excepting an 
unfinished ram which had her machinery in perfect 
order, were burned. The Tredegar Iron Works were 
unharmed. Libby Prison and Castle Thunder had also 
escaped the fire. 

Immediately upon arriving I began to make in- 
quiries about official papers. I found that the records 
and documents of the departments and of Congress 
had generally been removed before the evacuation, and 
that during the fire the Capitol had been ransacked and 
the documents there scattered. In the rooms of the 
Secretary of the Senate and of the Military Committee 
of the House of Representatives in the State House we 
found some papers of importance. They were in various 
cases in drawers, and all in great confusion. They were 
more or less imperfect and fragmentary. In the State 
Engineer's office also there were some boxes of papers 
relating to the Confederate works on the Potomac, 
around Norfolk, and on the Peninsula. I had all of 
these packed for shipment, without attempting to put 
them in order, and forwarded at once to Washington. 

General Weitzel told me that he had found about 
twenty thousand people in Richmond, half of them of 
African descent. He said that when President Lincoln 
entered the town on the 4th he received a most enthu- 
siastic reception from the mass of the inhabitants. All 
the members of Congress had escaped, and only the 

265 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

Assistant Secretary of War, Judge John Archibald 
Campbell, remained in the fallen capital of the Con- 
federacy. Most of the newspaper editors had fled, but 
the Whig appeared on the 4th as a Union paper, with 
the name of its former proprietor at its head. The 
night after I arrived the theater opened. 

There was much suffering and poverty among the 
population, the rich as well as the poor being destitute 
of food. Weitzel had decided to issue supplies to all 
who would take the oath. In my first message to Mr. 
Stanton I spoke of this. He immediately answered: 
" Please ascertain from General Weitzel under what au- 
thority he is distributing rations to the people of Rich- 
mond, as I suppose he would not do it without author- 
ity; and direct him to report daily the amount of ra- 
tions distributed by his order to persons not belonging 
to the military service, and not authorized by law to 
receive rations, designating the color of the persons, 
their occupation, and sex." Mr. Stanton seemed to be 
satisfied when I wired him that Weitzel was working 
under General Ord's orders, approved by General Grant, 
and that he was paying for the rations by selling cap- 
tured property. 

The important question which the President had on 
his mind when I reached Richmond was how Virginia 
could be brought back to the Union. He had already 
had an interview with Judge Campbell and other promi- 
nent representatives of the Confederate Government. 
All they asked, they said, was an amnesty and a mili- 
tary convention to cover appearances. Slavery they 
admitted to be defunct. The President did not promise 

266 



" On to Richmond" at Last I 

the amnesty, but he told them he had the pardoning 
power, and would save any repentant sinner from hang- 
ing. They assured him that, if amnesty could be of- 
fered, the rebel army would be dissolved and all the 
States return. 

On the morning of the 7th, five members of the so- 
called Virginia Legislature held a meeting to consider 
written propositions which the President had handed 
to Judge Campbell. The President showed these papers 
to me confidentially. They were two in number. One 
stated reunion as a qua non; the second authorized 

General Weitzel to allow members of the body claiming 
to be the Legislature of Virginia to meet in Richmond 
for the purpose of recalling Virginia's soldiers from the 
rebel armies, with safe conduct to them so long as they 
did and said nothing hostile to the L'nited States. In 
discussing with me these documents, the President re- 
marked that Sheridan seemed to be getting rebel sol- 
diers out of the war faster than the Legislature could 
think. 

The next morning, on April Sth. I was present at 
an interesting: interview between General Weitzel and 
General Shepley. who had been appointed as Military 
Governor of Richmond, and a committee of prominent 
citizens and members of the Legislature. Various 
papers were read by the Virginian representatives, but 
they were told plainly that no propositions could be 
entertained that involved a recoernition of the Confed- 
erate authorities. The committee were also informed 
that if they desired to prepare an address to the people, 
advising them to abandon hostility to the Government 

267 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

at once, and begin to obey the laws of the United States, 
they should have every facility for its circulation through 
the State, provided, of course, that it met the approval 
of the military authorities. The two Union generals 
said that if the committee desired to call a convention 
of the prominent citizens of the State, with a view to 
the restoration of the authority of the United States 
Government, they would be allowed to go outside the 
lines of Richmond for the purpose of visiting citizens 
in different parts of the State and inducing them to take 
part in a convention. Safe conduct was promised to 
them for themselves and such citizens as they could 
persuade to attend the convention. They were also told 
that if they were not able to find conveyances for them- 
selves for the journey into the country, horses would be 
loaned to them for that purpose. All this, they were 
informed, was not to be considered as in any manner 
condoning any offense of which any individual among 
them might have been guilty. 

Judge Campbell said that he had no wish to take 
a prominent part in the proceedings, but that he had 
long since made up his mind that the cause of the South 
was hopeless. He had written a formal memorial to 
Jefferson Davis, immediately after the Hampton Roads 
conference, urging him and the Confederate Congress 
to take immediate steps to stop the war and restore the 
Union. He had deliberately remained in Richmond to 
meet the consequences of his acts. He said that if he 
could be used in the restoration of peace and order, he 
would gladly undertake any labor that might be de- 
sired of him. 

268 



" On to Richmond" at Last! 

The spirit of the committee seemed to be generally 
the same as Judge Campbell's, though none of them 
equalled him in ability and clearness of thought and 
statement. They were thoroughly conscious that they 
were beaten, and sincerely anxious to stop all further 
bloodshed and restore peace, law, and order. This 
mental condition seemed to me to be very hopeful and 
encouraging. 

One day, after the meeting of this committee, I was 
in the large room downstairs of the Spotswood Hotel 
when my name was called, and I turned around to see 
Andrew Johnson, the new Vice-President of the United 
States. He took me aside and spoke with great ear- 
nestness about the necessity of not taking the Confed- 
erates back without some conditions or without some 
punishment. He insisted that their sins had been enor- 
mous, and that if they were let back into the Union 
without any punishment the effect would be very bad. 
He said they might be very dangerous in the future. 
The Vice-President talked to me in this strain for fully 
twenty minutes, I should think. It was an impassioned, 
earnest speech that he made to me on the subject of 
punishing rebels. Finally, when he paused and I got 
a chance to reply, I said: 

" Why, Mr. Johnson, I have no power in this case. 
Your remarks are very striking, very impressive, and 
certainly worthy of the most serious consideration, but 
it does not seem to me necessary that they should 
be addressed to me. They ought to be addressed 
to the President and to the members of Congress, 
to those who have authority in the case, and who 

269 



Recollections of the Civil War. 
will finally have to decide this question which you 



raise." 



" Mr. Dana," said he, " I feel it to be my duty to 
say these things to every man whom I meet, whom I 
know to have any influence. Any man whose thoughts 
are considered by others, or whose judgment is going 
to weigh in the case, I must speak to, so that the weight 
of opinion in favor of the view of this question which I 
offer may possibly become preponderating and de- 



• • 99 

cisive. 



That was in April. When Mr. Johnson became 
President, not long after, he soon came to take entirely 
the view which he condemned so earnestly in this con- 
versation with me. 

Toward the end of the first week after we entered 
Richmond the question about opening the churches on 
Sunday came up. I asked General Weitzel what he was 
going to do. He answered that all the places of worship 
were to be allowed to open on condition that no dis- 
loyalty should be uttered, and that the Episcopal clergy- 
men should read the prayer for the President of the 
United States. But the next day General Shepley, the 
military governor, came to me to ask that the order 
might be relaxed so that the clergy should be required 
only not to pray for Davis. I declined giving any 
orders, having received none from Washington, and said 
that Weitzel must act in the matter entirely on his own 
judgment. Judge Campbell used all his influence with 
Weitzel and Shepley to get them to consent that a loyal 
prayer should not be exacted. Weitzel concluded not 
to give a positive order; his decision was influenced by 

270 



" On to Richmond" at Last! 

the examples of New Orleans, Norfolk, and Savannah, 
where, he said, the requirement had not been at first 
enforced. In a greater measure, however, his decision 
was the result of the President's verbal direction to him 
to " let the people down easy." The churches were all 
well filled on Sunday, the ladies especially attending in 
great numbers. The sermons were devout and not po- 
litical, the city was perfectly quiet, and there was more 
security for persons and property than had existed in 
Richmond for many months. 

On Monday morning the news of Lee's surrender 
reached us in Richmond. It produced a deep impres- 
sion. Even the most intensely partisan women now 
felt that the defeat was perfect and the rebellion fin- 
ished, while among the men there was no sentiment 
but submission to the power of the nation, and a re- 
turning hope that their individual property might 
escape confiscation. They all seemed most keenly alive 
to this consideration, and men like General Anderson, 
the proprietor of the Tredegar works, were zealous 
in their efforts to produce a thorough pacification and 
save their possessions. 

The next morning I received from Mr. Stanton an 
order to proceed to General Grant's headquarters and 
furnish from there such details as might be of interest. 
It was at this time that I had an interesting talk with 
Grant on the condition of Lee's army and about the * 
men and arms surrendered. He told me that, in the 
long private interview which he had with Lee at 
Appomattox, the latter said that he should devote 
his whole efforts to pacifying the country and bring- 

271 



Recollections of the Civil IVar. 

ing the people back to the Union. Lee declared that 
he had always been for the Union in his own heart, 
and could find no justification for the politicians who 
had brought on the war, the origin of which he believed 
to have been in the folly of extremists on both sides. 
The war, Lee declared, had left him a poor man, with' 
nothing but what he had upon his person, and his wife 
would have to provide for herself until he could find 
some employment. 

The officers of Lee's army, Grant said, all seemed to 
be glad that it was over, and the men still more so than 
the officers. All were greatly impressed by the gen- 
erosity of the terms finally granted to them, for at the 
time of the surrender they were surrounded and escape 
was impossible. General Grant thought that these terms 
were of great importance toward securing a thorough 
peace and undisturbed submission to the Government. 

I returned to Washington with General Grant, 
reaching there the 13th, and taking up my work in 
the department at once. 



272 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE CLOSING SCENES AT WASHINGTON. 

Last interview with Mr. Lincoln — Why Jacob Thompson escaped — At 
the deathbed of the murdered President — Searching for the assas- 
sins — The letters which Mr. Lincoln had docketed " Assassination " 
— At the conspiracy trial — The Confederate secret cipher — Jeffer- 
son Davis's capture and imprisonment — A visit to the Confederate 
President at Fortress Monroe — The grand review of the Union 
armies — The meeting between Stanton and Sherman — End of Mr. 
Dana's connection with the War Department. 

It was one of my duties at this time to receive the 
reports of the officers of the secret service in every part 
of the country. On the afternoon of the 14th of April — 
it was Good Friday — I got a telegram from the provost 
marshal in Portland, Me., saying: " I have positive in- 
formation that Jacob Thompson will pass through Port- 
land to-night, in order to take a steamer for England. 
What are your orders? " 

Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, had been Secretary 
of the Interior in President Buchanan's administration. 
He was a conspicuous secessionist, and for some time 
had been employed in Canada as a semi-diplomatic 
agent of the Confederate Government. He had been 
organizing all sorts of trouble and getting up raids, 
of which the notorious attack on St. Albans, Vt., was 
a specimen. I took the telegram and went down and 
read it to Mr. Stanton. His order was prompt: "Ar- 
rest him!" But as I was going out of the door he 
19 273 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

called to me and said: " No, wait; better go over and 
see the President." 

At the White House all the work of the day was 
over, and I went into the President's business room 
without meeting any one. Opening the door, there 
seemed to be no one there, but, as I was turning to go 
out, Mr. Lincoln called to me from a little side room, 
where he was washing his hands: 

" Halloo, Dana! " said he. " What is it? What's 
up?" 

Then I read him the telegram from Portland. 

" What does Stanton say? " he asked. 

" He says arrest him, but that I should refer the 
question to you." 

" Well," said the President slowly, wiping his hands, 
" no, I rather think not. When you have got an ele- 
phant by the hind leg, and he's trying to run away, it's 
best to let him run." 

With this direction, I returned to the War Depart- 
ment. 

" Well, what says he? " asked Mr. Stanton. 

" He says that when you have got an elephant by 
the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, it's best to 
let him run." 

" Oh, stuff! " said Stanton. 

That night I was awakened from a sound sleep by 
a messenger with the news that Mr. Lincoln had been 
shot, and that the Secretary wanted me at a house in 
Tenth Street. I found the President with a bullet 
wound in the head, lying unconscious, though breathing 
heavily, on a bed in a small side room, while all the 

274 



The Closing Scenes at Washington. 

members of the Cabinet, and the Chief Justice with 
them, were gathered in the adjoining parlor. They 
seemed to be almost as much paralyzed as the uncon- 
scious sufferer within the little chamber. The sur- 
geons said there was no hope. Mr. Stanton alone was 
in full activity. 

" Sit down here," said he; "I want you." 
Then he began and dictated orders, one after an- 
other, which I wrote out and sent swiftly to the tele- 
graph. All these orders were designed to keep the busi- 
ness of the Government in full motion until the crisis 
should be over. It seemed as if Mr. Stanton thought of 
everything, and there was a great deal to be thought 
of that night. The extent of the conspiracy was, of 
course, unknown, and the horrible beginning which had 
been made naturally led us to suspect the worst. The 
safety of Washington must be looked after. Com- 
manders all over the country had to be ordered to take 
extra precautions. The people must be notified of the 
tragedy. The assassins must be captured. The cool- 
ness and clearheadedness of Mr. Stanton under these 
circumstances were most remarkable. I remember that 
one of his first telegrams was to General Dix, the mili- 
tary commander of New York, notifying him of what 
had happened. No clearer brief account of the tragedy 
exists to-day than this, written scarcely three hours 
after the scene in Ford's Theater, on a little stand in the 
room where, a few feet away, Mr. Lincoln lay dying. 

I remained with Mr. Stanton until perhaps three 
o'clock in the morning. Then he said: " That's enough. 
Now you may go home." 

275 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

When I left, the President was still alive, breathing 
heavily and regularly, though, of course, quite uncon- 
scious. About eight o'clock I was awakened by a rap- 
ping on a lower window. It was Colonel Pelouze, of 
the adjutant-general's office, and he said: 

' Mr. Dana, the President is dead, and Mr. Stanton 
directs you to arrest Jacob Thompson." 

The order was sent to Portland, but Thompson 
couldn't be found there. He had taken the Canadian 
route to Halifax. 

The whole machinery of the War Department was 
now employed in the effort to secure the murderer of 
the President and his accomplices. As soon as I had 
recovered from the first shock of Mr. Lincoln's death, 
I remembered that in the previous November I had 
received from General Dix the following letter: 

Headquarters, Department of the East, 

New York City, November iy, 1S64. 
C. A. Dana, Esq. 

My dear Sir: The inclosed was picked up in a 
Third Avenue railroad car. I should have thought the 
whole thing got up for the Sunday Mercury but for the 
genuine letter from St. Louis in a female hand. The 
Charles Selby is obviously a manufacture. The party 
who dropped the letter was heard to say he would start 
for Washington Friday night. He is of medium size, 
has black hair and whiskers, but the latter are believed 
to be a disguise. He had disappeared before the letter 
was picked up and examined. 

Yours truly, John A. Dix. 

There were two inclosures, this being one of them: 

Dear Louis: The time has at last come that we 
have all so wished for, and upon you everything de- 

276 



The Closing Scenes at Washington. 

pends. As it was decided before you left, we were to 
cast lots. Accordingly we did so, and you are to be 
the Charlotte Corday of the nineteenth century. When 
you remember the fearful, solemn vow that was taken 
by us, you will feel there is no drawback — Abe must die, 
and now. You can choose your weapons. The cup, 
the knife, the bullet. The cup failed us once, and might 
again. Johnson, who will give this, has been like an 
enraged demon since the meeting, because it has not 
fallen upon him to rid the world of the monster. He 
says the blood of his gray-haired father and his noble 
brother call upon him for revenge, and revenge he will 
have; if he can not wreak it upon the fountain-head, 
he will upon some of the bloodthirsty generals. Butler 
would suit him. As our plans were all concocted and 
well arranged, we separated, and as I am writing — on 
my way to Detroit — I will only say that all rests upon 
you. You know where to find your friends. Your dis- 
guises are so perfect and complete that without one 
knew your face no police telegraphic dispatch would 
catch you. The English gentleman " Harcourt " must 
not act hastily. Remember he has ten days. Strike 
for your home, strike for your country; bide your time, 
but strike sure. Get introduced, congratulate him. 
listen to his stories — not many more will the brute tell 
to earthly friends. Do anything but fail, and meet us 
at the appointed place within the fortnight. Inclose 
this note, together with one of poor Leenea. I will 
give the reason for this when we meet. Return by 
Johnson. I wish I could go to you, but duty calls me 
to the West; you will probably hear from me in Wash- 
ington. Sanders is doing us no good in Canada. 
Believe me, your brother in love, 

Charles Selby. 

The other was in a woman's handwriting: 

St. Louis, October si, 1864. 

Dearest Husband: Why do you not come home? 
You left me for ten days only, and you now have been 

277 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

from home more than two weeks. In that long time 
only sent me one short note — a few cold words — and a 
check for money, which I did not require. What has 
come over you? Have you forgotten your wife and 
child? Baby calls for papa until my heart aches. We 
are so lonely without you. I have written to you again 
and again, and, as a last resource, yesterday wrote to 
Charlie, begging him to see you and tell you to come 
home. I am so ill, not able to leave my room; if I was, 
I would go to you wherever you were, if in this world. 
Mamma says I must not write any more, as I am too 
weak. Louis, darling, do not stay away any longer 
from your heart-broken wife. Leenea. 

On reading the letters, I had taken them at once to 
President Lincoln. He looked at them, but made no 
special remark, and, in fact, seemed to attach very little 
importance to them. I left them with him. 

I now reminded Mr. Stanton of this circumstance, 
and he asked me to go immediately to the White House 
and see if I could find the letters. I thought it rather 
doubtful, for I knew the President received a great 
many communications of a similar nature. However, 
I went over, and made a thorough search through his 
private desk. He seemed to have attached more im- 
portance to these papers than to others of the kind, for 
I found them inclosed in an envelope marked in his own 
handwriting, " Assassination." I kept the letters by 
me for some time, and then delivered them to Judge 
John A. Bingham, special judge advocate in the con- 
spiracy trial. Judge Bingham seemed to think them of 
importance, and asked me to have General Dix send the 
finder down to Washington. I wired at once to the 
general. He replied that it was a woman who had found 

278 



c the Closing Scenes at Washington. 

the letters; that she was keeping a small store in New 
York, had several children, was a widow, and had no 
servant; that she would have to find some one to take 
care of her house, but would be in Washington in a day 
or two. 

A few days later she came. I was not in town when 
Mrs. Hudspeth, as her name proved to be, arrived. I 
had gone to Chicago, but from the woman's testimony 
on May 12th, I learned that in November, 1864, just 
after the presidential election, and on the day, she said, 
on which General Butler left New York, she had over- 
heard a curious conversation between two men in a 
Third Avenue car in New York city. She had observed, 
when a jolt of the car pushed the hat of one of the men 
forward, that he wore false whiskers. She had noticed 
that his hand was very beautiful; that he carried a pistol 
in his belt; that, judging from his conversation, he was 
a young man of education; she heard him say that he 
was going to Washington that day. The young men 
left the car before she did, and after they had gone her 
daughter, who was with her, had picked up a letter from 
the floor. Mrs. Hudspeth, thinking it belonged to her, 
had carried it from the car. She afterward discovered 
the two letters printed above, and took them to General 
Scott, who, upon reading them, said they were of great 
importance, and sent her to General Dix. When a 
photograph of Booth was shown to Mrs. Hudspeth, 
she swore that it was the man in disguise whom she 
had seen in the car. It was found that Booth was in 
New York on the day that she indicated — that is, the 
day General Butler left New York, November nth — 

279 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

and likewise that Booth had gone from there to Wash- 
ington, as she had heard this man say he was going 
to do. The inference was that the man who had 
dropped the letter was Booth. 

I was afterward called to the stand, on June 9th, 
to testify about the letters. Judge Bingham used these 
documents as a link in his chain of evidence showing 
that a conspiracy existed " to kill and murder Abra- 
ham Lincoln, William H. Seward, Andrew Johnson, 
Ulysses S. Grant, Edwin M. Stanton, and others of his 
advisers," and that Booth was a partner in this con- 
spiracy. 

I have said that I was in Chicago when Mrs. Huds- 
peth gave her testimony. Just after I reached there I 
received from Major T. F. Eckert, the head of the mili- 
tary telegraph, a message saying that the court wanted 
me immediately as a witness in the conspiracy trial. I 
returned at once, and on the 18th of May appeared in 
court. I was wanted that I might testify to the iden- 
tity of a key to a secret cipher which I had found on 
the 6th of April in Richmond. On that day I had gone 
into the office of Mr. Benjamin, the Confederate Secre- 
tary of State; on a shelf, among Mr. Benjamin's books 
and other things, I had found a secret cipher key.* 
I saw it was the key to the official Confederate cipher, 



* The secret cipher key was a model consisting of a cylinder, six 
inches in length and two and one half in diameter, fixed in a frame, 
the cylinder having the printed key pasted over it. By shifting the 
pointers fixed over the cylinder on the upper portion of the frame, 
according to a certain arrangement previously agreed upon, the cipher 
letter or dispatch could be deciphered readily. The model was put in 
evidence at the trial. 

280 



The Closing Scenes at Washington. 

and, as we had at times to decipher at the War Depart- 
ment a good many documents written in that cipher, 
it seemed to me of interest, and I brought it away, with 
several other interesting documents. When I returned 
to Washington I gave it to Major Eckert, who had 
charge of cipher dispatches in the War Department. 

Now, on the night of Mr. Lincoln's assassination, 
Lieutenant W. H. Terry had been sent to the National 
Hotel to seize the trunk of J. Wilkes Booth. Among 
other things, he had found a paper containing a secret 
cipher. When this was given to Major Eckert, he 
immediately saw that it was the same as the one which 
I had found in Richmond. It was thought that pos- 
sibly by means of this evidence it could be shown that 
Booth was in communication with the Confederate 
Government. I was called back to identify the cipher 
key. Major Eckert at the same time presented dis- 
patches written in the cipher found in Booth's trunk 
and sent from Canada to the Confederates. They had 
been captured and taken to the War Department, where 
copies of them were made. By the key which I had 
found these dispatches could be read. These dispatches 
indicated plots against the leaders of our Government, 
though whether Booth had sent them or not was, of 
course, never known. 

Throughout the period of the trial I was constantly 
receiving and answering messages and letters relative 
to the examination or arrest of persons suspected of 
being connected with the affair. In most cases neither 
the examinations nor arrests led to anything. The 
persons had been acquaintances of the known conspira- 

281 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

tors, or they had been heard to utter disloyal senti- 
ments and had been reported to the department by zeal- 
ous Unionists. It was necessary, however, under the 
circumstances, to follow up every clew given us, and, 
under Mr. Stanton's directions, I gave attention to all 
cases reported. 

While the trial was going on in Washington, Jeffer- 
son Davis was captured, on May ioth, near Irwinsville, 
Ga., by a detachment of General Wilson's cavalry. Mr. 
Davis and his family, with Alexander H. Stephens, 
lately Vice-President of the Confederacy, John H. 
Reagan, Postmaster General, Clement C. Clay, and 
other State prisoners, were sent to Fortress Monroe. 
The propeller Clyde, with the party on board, reached 
Hampton Roads on May 19th. The next day, May 
20th, Mr. Stanton sent for me to come to his office. 
He told me where Davis was, and said that he had or- 
dered General Nelson A. Miles to go to Hampton 
Roads to take charge of the prisoners, transferring 
them from the Clyde to the fortress. Mr. Stanton was 
much concerned lest Davis should commit suicide; he 
said that he himself would do so in like circumstances. 
" I want you to go to Fortress Monroe," he said, " and 
caution General Miles against leaving Davis any pos- 
sible method of suicide; tell him to put him in fetters, 
if necessary. Davis must be brought to trial; he must 
not be allowed to kill himself." Mr. Stanton also told 
me that he wanted a representative of the War Depart- 
ment down there to see what the military was doing, 
and to give suggestions and make criticisms and send 
him full reports. 

282 



The Closing Scenes at Washington. 

The status of Jefferson Davis at the time explains 
Mr. Stanton's anxiety. It should be remembered that 
Davis had not surrendered when the capital of the Con- 
federacy, Richmond, was captured; neither had he sur- 
rendered with either of the two principal armies under 
Lee and Johnston. At that time the whole Confederate 
army west of the Mississippi was still at large. To 
allow Davis to join this force was only to give the Con- 
federacy an opportunity to reassemble the forces still 
unsurrendered and make another stand for life. Even 
more important than this consideration was the fact 
that Davis was charged, in President Johnson's proc- 
lamation of May 2, 1865, offering a reward for his cap- 
ture, with instigating the assassination of President 
Lincoln: 

Whereas, It appears, from evidence in the Bureau of 
Military Justice, that the atrocious murder of the late 
President, Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assas- 
sination of the Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, 
were incited, concerted, and procured by and between 
Jefferson Davis, late of Richmond, Va., . . . and other 
rebels and traitors against the Government of the 
United States, harbored in Canada; 

Now, therefore, to the end that justice may be done, 
I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do 
offer and promise for the arrest of said persons or either 
of them, within the limits of the United States, so that 
they can be brought to trial, the following rewards: 
One hundred thousand dollars for the arrest of Jefferson 
Davis . . . The provost marshal general of the United 
States is directed to cause the descriptions of said per- 
sons, with notice of the above rewards, to be published. 

It was with the above facts in mind that I started 
for Hampton Roads on May 20th. On the 22d the 

283 



Recollections of the Civil IVar. 

prisoners were transferred from the Clyde to the for- 
tress. The quarter selected for Davis's prison was a 
casemate such as at that time, as well as at the present, 
is occupied by officers and their families. In fact, an 
officer with his family was moved out of the particu- 
lar casemate in which Davis was placed. Any one who 
will take the trouble to visit Fortress Monroe can see 
the place still, and it certainly has not to-day a gloomy 
or forbidding appearance. The whole scene of the 
transfer I described in a long telegram which I sent to 
Mr. Stanton on the 22d. As it contains my fresh im- 
pressions, and has never before been published, I give 
it here in full: 

From Fortress Monroe, i p. m., May 22, 1865. 
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

The two prisoners have just been placed in their re- 
spective casemates. The sentries are stationed both 
within and without their doors. The bars and locks are 
fastened, and the regular routine of their imprisonment 
has begun. At precisely one o'clock General Miles left 
with a tug and a guard from the garrison to go for 
Davis and Clay. At half past one the tug left the Clyde 
for the fortress. She landed at the engineers' wharf, 
and the procession, led by the cavalrymen of Colonel 
Pritchard's command, moved through the water bat- 
tery on the east front of the fortress and entered by a 
postern leading from that battery. The cavalrymen 
were followed by General Miles, holding Davis by the 
right arm. Next came half a dozen soldiers, and then 
Colonel Pritchard with Clay, and last the guard which 
Miles took out with him. The arrangements were ex- 
cellent and successful, and not a single curious spectator 
was any where in sight. 

Davis bore himself with a haughty attitude. His 
face was somewhat flushed, but his features were com- 

284 



Tke Closing Scenes at Washington. 

posed and his step firm. In Clay's manner there was 
less expression of bravado and dramatic determination. 
Both were dressed in gray, with drab slouched hats. 
Davis wore a thin dark overcoat. His hair and beard 
are not so gray as has been reported, and he seems 
very much less worn and broken by anxiety and labor 
than Mr. Blair reported when he returned from Rich- 
mond last winter. The parties were not informed that 
they were not to be removed to the fortress until Gen- 
eral Miles went on board the Clyde, but they had before 
learned generally what was their destination. 

From his staff officers Davis parted yesterday, shed- 
ding tears at the separation. The same scene has just 
been renewed at his parting from Harrison, his private 
secretary, who left at one o'clock for Washington. In 
leaving his wife and children he exhibited no great emo- 
tion, though she was violently affected. He told her 
she would be allowed to see him in the course of the 
day. Clay took leave of his wife in private, and he was 
not seen by the officers. Both asked to see General 
Halleck, but he will not see them. 

The arrangements for the security of the prisoners 
seem to me as complete as could be desired. Each one 
occupies the inner room of a casemate; the window is 
heavily barred. A sentry stands within, before each 
of the doors leading into the outer room. These doors 
are to be grated, but are now secured by bars fastened 
on the outside. Two other sentries stand outside of 
these doors. An officer is also constantly on duty in 
t the outer room, whose duty is to see his prisoners every 
fifteen minutes. The outer door of all is locked on the 
outside, and the key is kept exclusively by the general 
officer of the guard. Two sentries are also stationed 
without that door, and a strong line of sentries cuts 
off all access to the vicinity of the casemates. Another 
line is stationed on the top of the parapet overhead, and 
a third line is posted across the moats on the counter- 
scarps opposite the places of confinement. The case- 
mates on each side and between these occupied by the 

285 



Recollections of the Civil IV ar. 

prisoners are used as guard rooms, and soldiers are al- 
ways there. A lamp is constantly kept burning in each 
of the rooms. The furniture of each prisoner is a hos- 
pital bed, with iron bedstead, chair and table, and a 
movable stool closet. A Bible is allowed to each. I 
have not given orders to have them placed in irons, as 
General Halleck seemed opposed to it, but General 
Miles is instructed to have fetters ready if he thinks 
them necessary. The prisoners are to be supplied with 
soldiers' rations, cooked by the guard. Their linen will 
be issued to them in the same way. I shall be back to- 
morrow morning. C. A. Dana. 

Before leaving Fortress Monroe, on May 22d, I 
made out for General Miles the order here printed in 
facsimile : ir 

tf^ fit* irid^JW^hr ^ *««? #*kJ: 



286 



The Closing Scenes at Washington. 

This order was General Miles's authority for placing 
fetters upon Davis a day or two later, when he found 
it necessary to change the inner doors of the casemate, 
which were light wooden ones, without locks. While 
these doors were being changed for grated ones, an- 
klets were placed on Davis; they did not prevent his 
walking, but did prevent any attempt to jump past 
the guard, and they also prevented him from running. 
As sOon as the doors were changed (it required three 
days, I think), the anklets were removed. I believe 
that every care was taken during Mr. Davis's imprison- 
ment to remove cause for complaint. Medical officers 
were directed to superintend his meals and give him 
everything that would excite his appetite. As it was 
complained that his quarters in the casemate were un- 
healthy and disagreeable, he was, after a few weeks, 
transferred to Carroll Hall, a building still occupied 
by officers and soldiers. That Davis's health was not 
ruined by his imprisonment at Fortress Monroe is 
proved by the fact that he came out of the prison in 
better condition than when he went in, and that he 
lived for twenty years afterward, and died of old age. 

I hurried back to Washington from Fortress Mon- 
roe to be present at the grand review of the Armies of 
the Potomac and Tennessee, which had been arranged 
for May 23d and 24th. I reached the city early in the 
morning. The streets were all alive with detachments 
of soldiers marching toward Capitol Hill, for it was 
there that the parade was to start. Thousands of visi- 
tors were also in the streets. 

May 23d was given up to the review of the Army of 

287 



Recollections of the Civil War. 

the Potomac, and by nine o'clock General Meade and 
his staff, at the head of the army, started from the Capi- 
tol. Soon after, I joined the company on the review- 
ing officers' stand, in front of the White House, in just 
the place which the reviewing stand now occupies on 
inauguration days. President Johnson had the cen- 
tral position on the platform. Upon his right, a seat 
was retained for the commander of the corps under- 
going review. As soon as the corps commander with 
his staff had passed the grand stand at the head of his 
troops, he rode into the grounds of the White House, 
dismounted, and came to take his position at the right 
of Mr. Johnson, while his troops continued their march. 
When all his men had passed, he gave up his place 
to the commander of the next corps in the column, 
and so on. Next to the corps commanders were seated 
Secretary Stanton and Lieutenant-General Grant. On 
the left of the President was Postmaster-General Den- 
nison and, on the first day of the parade, while the Army 
of the Potomac passed, Major-General Meade; and on 
the second day, while the Army of the Tennessee 
passed, Major-General Sherman. The other members 
of the Cabinet, many army officers, the assistant secre- 
taries in the different departments, and a number of 
guests invited by the President and the secretaries, were 
grouped around these central personages. 

On the 24th, when Sherman's army was reviewed, 
I sat directly behind Mr. Stanton at the moment when 
General Sherman, after having passed the grand stand 
at the head of his army, dismounted and came on to 
the stand to take his position and review his soldiers. 

288 



The Closing Scenes at Washington. 

As he had to pass immediately in front of Secretary 
Stanton in order to reach the place assigned to him 
on the President's right, I could see him perfectly. I 
watched both men closely, for the difficulty between 
Stanton and Sherman was at that moment known to 
everybody. 

The terms upon which Sherman in April had ac- 
cepted the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston's 
army in North Carolina went beyond the authority of a 
military commander, and touched upon political issues. 
It is true that these terms were made conditional upon 
the approval of the Government; nevertheless, Mr. 
Stanton was deeply indignant at the general for med- 
dling with matters beyond his jurisdiction. No doubt 
his indignation was intensified by his dislike of Sher- 
man. The two men were antagonistic by nature. Sher- 
man was an effervescent, mercurial, expansive man, 
springing abruptly to an idea, expressing himself en- 
thusiastically on every subject, and often without re- 
flection. Stanton could not accommodate himself to 
this temperament. 

When the memorandum of the agreement between 
Johnston and Sherman reached Stanton, he sent Grant 
to the general in hot haste, and then published in the 
newspapers, which need not have known anything of 
the affair, a full account of the unwise compact, and an 
indignant repudiation of it by the Government. Natu- 
rally this brought down a furious attack upon Sherman. 
All his past services were forgotten for a time, and he 
was even called a " traitor." The public quickly saw 
the injustice of this attitude; so did most of the men 
20 289 



Recollections of the Civil W r ar. 

in the Government, and they hastened to appease Sher- 
man, who was violently incensed over what he called 
Stanton's insult. I think he never forgave the Secre- 
tary. When, on May 19th, he reached Washington 
with his army, which he had marched northward across 
the battlefields of Virginia, he refused to have anything 
to do with Stanton, although Grant tried his best to 
bring about a reconciliation and the President and 
several members of the Cabinet showed him every at- 
tention. 

I was, of course, curious to see what General Sher- 
man would do in passing before Mr. Stanton to take 
his place on the stand. The general says in his Memoirs 
that, as he passed, Stanton offered his hand and he re- 
fused to take it. He is entirely mistaken. I was watch- 
ing narrowly. The Secretary made no motion to offer 
his hand, or to exchange salutations in any manner. 
As the general passed, Mr. Stanton gave him merely 
a slight forward motion of his head, equivalent, perhaps, 
to a quarter of a bow. 

In May I had been asked to become the editor of 
a new paper to be founded in Chicago, the Republican. 
The active promoter was a Mr. Mack, and the concern 
was organized with a nominal capital of five hundred 
thousand dollars. Only a small part of this was ever 
paid up; a lafge block of the stock was set aside as a 
bonus to induce a proper man to become the editor. 
Mr. Mack had offered the post to me, and, through the 
influence of the Hon. Lyman Trumbull and other prom- 
inent men of Illinois, I was persuaded to accept it. In 
deciding on the change, I had arranged to stay in 

290 



The Closing Scenes at Washington. 

Washington until I could finish the routine business 
upon which I was then engaged, and until Mr. Stanton 
could conveniently spare me. This was not until the 
1st of July. On the first day of the month I sent to 
the President my resignation as Assistant Secretary of 
War, and a few days later I left the capital for Chicago. 



291 



INDEX. 



Army of the Cumberland reorgan- 
ized, 126. 

Augur, General, and the spy, 183 ; 
in command at Washington, 
244. 

Baltimore merchants arrested, 

236. 
Banks, General, besieges Port 

Hudson, 80. 
Bates, Edward, impressions of, 

171. 

Beauregard, General, 222. 

Blair, Montgomery, character, 170, 
231. 

Booth, J. Wilkes, 281. 

Bragg, General, driven across the 
Tennessee, 104 ; maneuvers to 
reach Chattanooga, 107-111 ; 
evacuates Lookout Mountain, 
148 ; retreats, 151. 

Burnside, General, shut up in 
Knoxville, 135 ; character, 138 ; 
forces, 138 ; repulses Long- 
street, 154 ; relieved by Sher- 
man, 154 ; transferred to com- 
mand of Ninth Army Corps, 
191. 

Cairo, the claims commission, 12. 

Campbell, Judge, negotiations 
with President Lincoln, 266, 270. 

Canada, proposed Confederate ex- 
pedition from, 243. 



Cedar Creek, 248. 

Champion Hill, 53. 

Chase, Salmon P., impressions of, 
169. 

Chattanooga, defense of, 120 ; bat- 
tle, 143. 

Chickamauga, ill. 

Cipher dispatches, 22 ; Confeder- 
ate, 280. 

Cold Harbor, 208. 

Conkling, Roscoe, 17, 177, 263. 

Cotton speculation, 17. 

Crittenden, General, censured for 
conduct at Chickamauga, 122 ; 
relieved, 126. 

Dana, Charles A., resigns from 
the Tribune, 1 ; first meeting 
with Lincoln, 2 ; early corre- 
spondence with Stanton, 4-11 ; 
commissioner of War Depart- 
ment, 21 ; at the front with 
Grant, 30 et seq. ; gets a horse, 
45 ; assistant adjutant general, 
82 ; Assistant Secretary of War, 
103 ; with the Army of the Cum- 
berland, 105 et seq. ; at Chat- 
tanooga, 132 ; interview with 
Burnside at Knoxville, 138 ; on 
duty at Washington, 156 et seq. ; 
relations with Stanton, 159 ; 
with the Army of the Potomac, 
189 et seq. ; with Sheridan in the 
valley, 248 et seq. ; at Richmond, 



293 



Recollections of the Civil fVar. 



263; last interview with Lincoln, 
274 ; becomes editor of the Chi- 
cago Republican, 290. 

Davis, Jefferson, capture, 282 ; 
imprisonment, 284. 

Drouillard, Captain, 116. 

Early, General, menaces the capi- 
tal, 228 ; withdraws, 232. 
Everett, Edward, 182. 

Five Forks, 263. 

Foster, General J. G., supersedes 

Burnside, 191. 
Fremont, General, 5, 6. 

Garfield, General, 118. 

Grand Gulf, attack on, 42. 

Granger, General Gordon, in com- 
mand at Nashville, 105 ; at 
Chickamauga, 119; at Mission- 
ary Ridge, 149 ; fails to relieve 
Burnside, 152. 

Grant, General, impressions of, 
15, 61 ; conduct at Shiloh criti- 
cised, 15 ; plan for Vicksburg 
campaign, 30 ; self-control, 43 ; 
invests Vicksburg, 56 ; asks re- 
enforcements, 80 ; enters Vicks- 
burg, 99 ; rapid mobilization of 
his army, 101 ; at Chattanooga, 
133 ; at Missionary Ridge, 148 ; 
made general in chief of the 
United States army, 186 ; crosses 
the Rapidan, 187 ; maneuvers 
against Lee, 200-207 ; at Cold 
Harbor, 208 ; charges of butch- 
ery, 209; in camp at Cold Harbor, 
213 ; marches on Petersburg, 217 
et seq. ; prepares for siege, 224. 

Halleck, General, obstructs Grant's 
plans, 156 ; Grant's chief of 
staff, 186 ; character, 187. 



Hancock, General, his energy, 
190 ; at Spottsylvania, 195 ; ad- 
vancing to Richmond, 201 ; at 
Cold Harbor, 208. 

Herron, General, 70, 87. 

Hooker, General, ordered to Look- 
out Valley, 134 ; at Lookout 
Mountain, 147. 

Hovey, General, 63, 217. 

Hudspeth, Mrs., gives evidence in 
conspiracy trial, 279. 

Humphreys, General, 192. 

Hunter, General, defeats Jones, 
229 ; Grant's defense of, 233. 

Jackson, entered by United States 
army, 52. 

Johnson, Andrew, 105 ; urges pun- 
ishment of rebels, 269. 

Johnston, General J. E., threatens 
Grant during siege of Vicks- 
burg, 83, 84, 289. 

Lee, General R. E., defeated in 
the Wilderness, 193 ; maneuvers 
against Grant, 201-207 ; Grant's 
estimate of, 215 ; outwitted by 
Grant, 222 ; driven from Peters- 
burg, 263 ; surrender, 271. 

Lincoln, President, impressions 
of, 171-185 ; relations with his 
cabinet, 171 ; as a politician, 
174-181 ; his mercifulness, 183; 
visits the lines before Peters- 
burg, 224; re-election, 260; 
seeming flippancy, 261 ; in Rich- 
mond after surrender, 266; 
propositions to Confederates, 
267 ; assassinated, 274. 

Logan, General, 53, 67. 

Longstreet, General, 119, 139. 

Lookout Mountain, 147. 

McClellan, dissatisfaction with, 8 ; 
absurd claims for, 9. 



294 



Index. 



McClernand, General, commands 
movement en Grand Gulf, 32; 
his annoying delays and ineffi- 
ciency, 59, 89 ; removal, 90. 

McCook, General, censured for 
conduct at Chickamauga, 122 ; 
relieved, 126. 

McPherson, General, in move- 
ment on Grand Gulf, 41 ; at 
Raymond, 51 ; ability, 58 ; 
springs the mines before Vicks- 
burg, 91. 

Meade, General, commands army 
of the Potomac, 189 ; character 
and ability, 189 ; before Peters- 
burg, 221 ; difficulties with sub- 
ordinates, 226. 

Milliken's Bend, 86. 

Mississippi, reopening of, 30. 

Missionary Ridge, 148. 

"Morse," case of, 235. 

Negro troops, their bravery, 86, 
220. 

Nevada, why admitted, 174, 175. 

Newspaper correspondents, trou- 
ble with, 215. 

New York and Chicago, plans for 
burning, 241. 

Ord, General, supersedes McCler- 
nand, 90. 



Parsons, Colonel, 253. 

Pemberton, General, defeated at 
Champion's Hill, 53 ; retreat 
and losses, 55 ; asks for terms, 
95 ; humiliation, 96 ; surren- 
ders Vicksburg, 99. 

Porter, Admiral, runs the Vicks- 
burg batteries, 36 ; character, 

85. 
Porter, General, halts fugitives at 
Chickamauga, 116. 

295 



Port Gibson, 44. 

Presidential campaign of 1864, 
260. 

Railroads seized by the Govern- 
ment, disposition of, 255. 

Rawlins, Colonel J. A., and the 
Confederate Mason, 54 ; charac- 
ter, 62, 72. 

Raymond, engagement at, 51. 

Richmond surrendered, 263 ; evac- 
uated, 264. 

Rosecrans, General, his delays, 
104 ; occupies Chattanooga, 107 ; 
concentrates his army, no; at 
Chickamauga, in ; prepares to 
defend Chattanooga, 120 ; inde- 
cision and incapacity, 123, 127 ; 
transferred to Department of 
the Missouri, 131. 

Schofield, General, troops trans- 
ferred, 252. 

Secret service, 235 et seq. 

Sedgwick, General John, 190. 

"Selby" and "Leenea" letters, 
276, 277. 

Seward, Wm. H., impressions of, 
168. 

Shepley, General, military gov- 
ernor of Richmond, 267, 270. 

Sheridan, General, at Chickamau- 
ga, 116; at Chattanooga, 145; 
at Missionary Ridge, 150; ma- 
jor-general, 248 ; affection of 
the army, 249 ; wins at Five 
Forks, 263. 

Sherman, General, impressions 
of, 29 ; commands a corps in 
Grant's army, 31 ; destroys pub- 
lic property in Jackson, 53 ; be- 
fore Vicksburg, 57 ; in pursuit 
of Johnston, 84 ; ordered to join 
the forces at Chattanooga, 136 ; 



Recollections of the Civil War. 



bridges the Tennessee, 146 ; at 
Missionary Ridge, 148 ; relieves 
Burnside at Knoxville, 154; 
letter on the relief passes, 165 ; 
difficulties with Stanton, 289. 

Smith, General A. J., 64, 95, 97. 

Smith, General "Baldy,"2o6, 207, 
208, 219. 

Spottsylvania, 195. 

Stanton, E. M., early correspond- 
ence with Dana, 4-1 1 ; forbids 
army speculations in cotton, 20 ; 
gives complete authority to 
Grant, 52 ; appearance and 
character, 157 ; relations with 
his subordinates, 159 ; friction 
with Blair, 170 ; arrests the Bal- 
timore merchants, 236. 

Strouse, Congressman, case of, 

159- 

Table of Union losses, 210. 

Thomas, General, heads off the 
Confederates from Chattanooga, 
in ; holds the field at Chicka- 
mauga, 118 ; his high qualities 
and Stanton's esteem, 124; su- 
persedes Rosecrans, 131 ; charge 



of his troops at Missionary 

Ridge, 150. 
Thompson, Jacob, 239, 273. 
"Turkey movement," 252. 

Vicksburg, campaign plans, 25, 
30 ; batteries run, 36 ; attack 
on, 56; siege, 57, 78-99 ; sur- 
render, 99. 

Virginia Legislature, negotiations 
with President Lincoln, 267. 

Wallace, General Lew, 229, 231. 

War Department, immense busi- 
ness, 161. 

Warren, General, 190, 202, 206, 
209. 

Washburn, General, 71. 

Washington, panic at, 229. 

Watson, P. H., and the forage 
fraud, 162. 

Weitzel, General, in command at 
Richmond, 264, 266, 270. 

Welles, Gideon, impressions of, 
170. 

Wilmot, David, 163. 

Wilson, General J. H., 137, 227. 

Wright, General, 191, 207, 208. 



THE END. 



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